


Would you open your eyes?

by residentsheeper



Series: Director AU: Shall we go to the movies? [1]
Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Trans Character, Coming Out, F/F, Friendship: David and Leonie, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, Minor Original Character(s), Pining, Prequel, Set in 2021, They are 20 years old, Trans Male Character, University Students
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-05-20 04:59:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19370131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/residentsheeper/pseuds/residentsheeper
Summary: Leonie is not, and has never been in love with Sara.That is a big fat lie. Not that Leonie would let herself entertain such dangerous thoughts.She does not know what to do, if she were being honest. What she knows, or thinks she knows, though, is that someone who looked and smelled oddly like Sara appeared by her side and kissed the side of her head when the clock struck midnight, with everyone at the party cheering for the new year.Then theatre club throws another spanner in the works.--A prequel fic to "And I walk onto the big-screen with You" that focuses on Leonie and Sara and can be read as a standalone fic.





	1. New Year, Same Old?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! (waves while holding a glass of wine)  
> I tried to talk myself out of doing this, at least from the time being, but I have a tendency to make bad life decisions, so here we are.  
> The idea for this fic took root, really, before _And I walk onto the big-screen with You_ was even published, when I was posting dumb, short excerpts without context to the DOD.  
> I planned to *think about* doing this fic when I am done with the main fic, but then negotiated with myself to just *plot* this fic for later, then somehow a chapter appeared out of thin air. So I guess I am testing the waters to see if I should move forward with this fic!
> 
> I can promise OCs are solely for the advancement of plot and their involvement would be as light as possible.
> 
> Please do leave your feedback to me as always! I highly appreciate it!

**1 Jan 2021**

_Freitag 00:02_

Another year comes and goes, and Leonie finds herself already months into her second year in university. Somethings never change though. For instance, hanging out with Sara in most of their free time; going to parties with Sara; seeing Sara in pursuit of, or being pursued by some guy; pretending not to notice when Sara makes out with someone; her picking up the pieces when Sara gets way too hammered.

So yeah, a lot of things about Sara never changed for Leonie.

Once again, Leonie finds herself at a party with Sara asked her to go along with. Leonie is not even sure who is the host of the party, she is pretty sure it is some psychology major that Sara knows from her classes. Sara always parties hard, and without fail she was whisked away pretty much as soon as they arrived, and Leonie does not really know what to do in a party where she knows nearly no one.

What she knows, or thinks she knows, though, is that someone who looked and smelled oddly like Sara appeared by her side and kissed the side of her head when the clock struck midnight, with everyone at the party cheering for the new year.

She is not sure if it was some sort of hallucination though, given that now, two minutes later, Sara is once again nowhere to be seen. _She might be drunk out of her mind_ , Leonie thinks to herself, and sets out in search of her best friend to make sure she is doing fine.

It is not just Sara though, when it comes to things that stayed as is in life. It has been more than a year since their abitur. Berlin is still Berlin. Things from Barnim are still present in her life. It is not as much of a seismic shift that some people make it out as, maybe partly due to her still living and studying in Berlin rather than moving elsewhere. She is still seen as a leader and elected as an organizer for things; Her room is still cluttered by notes for school; There are still people that she sees around the campus in university.

People like Kiki Machwitz, who she runs into this very moment, and apparently, _Carlos Schmidt _, who is not even a student of this university?__

“Oh hey.” Leonie says when they cross paths in the sea of people.

“Uh, hi.” Kiki greets her a bit awkwardly, surprised maybe, Carlos idling by her side. Leonie and Kiki just seldomly talk, really.

It is not like Leonie dislikes or has any reason to dislike Kiki really, but they just do not talk that much. You may argue that they are competition, considering both of them tend to take lead and organize events, and the fact that both of them are majoring in Communication and Media Management. But that would simply be untrue, as they never really competed to lead the same event, and added with the fact that Kiki is apparently going for _social media influencer_ thing, which is completely not what Leonie has in her mind for herself. No cause for conflict really.

It is just that seeing Kiki, and more so, seeing Carlos, reminds Leonie of a certain disheveled blond boy that captivated her _cr_ … best friend, only to hurt her and break up with her later on. Last thing she heard, Leonie thinks it has also been from Kiki, is that _Matteo_ is gay all along.

So yeah, Leonie is just salty about this whole Sara–Matteo thing, especially considering how Sara later told her it happened on top of her dad losing his job, and how Sara still has not opened her eyes and see Leonie…she has to drop this thought.

“Enjoying yourself?” Leonie forces a smile to her face. She should really be nicer and talk more to Kiki considering they have several classes together. That is not the priority right now though.

“Yeah! I figured I will bring Carlos along, so he could meet some of the people here.”

“Oh cool! I see some people from our major but mostly I don’t know anyone. I don’t even know who the host is.”

“That would be Stefan, I think? I am not sure either.” Kiki replies. Carlos is currently drawn into conversation by someone walking past and she moves to follow. “Hey, see you in class when the semester starts?” While motioning at Carlos’ general direction.

“Yeah, sure.”

Leonie is pretty sure one of the directors who most recently failed spectacularly at the theatre club is a Stefan. She does not care though, as she was not involved in the club at that point.

Right, Leonie is involved in the theatre club, joining at the urging of Sara, who made a beeline for the club as soon as she could. Sara has acting in her blood, so that is not really a surprise. Leonie tried it out too, but as much as she has always been a popular person who can draw people to productions, she is a self-admitted amateur in acting, and decides back stage is her place. She finds her place as a stage manager, putting her communication, organization and leadership skills into good use, while Sara thrives on stage.

Leonie might be biased, but she thinks Sara may actually have a shot at landing a lead role in the upcoming production at the club, given how she has shown glimpses of her talent in the past few productions as supporting characters. The last she heard murmurs about it, they are saying it would be a Shakespearean play, which would be the first one both Leonie and Sara would be involved in. And what better time than a Shakespearean play to make her break? Leonie would fight anyone who thinks they are more worthy of being a lead character than Sara, if she were being honest.

She first has to make sure Sara is not drinking herself under the table right now though.

It is not that difficult to find Sara, it turns out. Just follow the alcohol. Leonie catches her downing shots with a few of the cast members from the last few productions, including _Mario Schneider_ , who has been one of the leads for the past two productions, and more importantly, who Leonie thinks Sara has been _overly friendly_ with.

Sara reaches for Leonie as soon as she sees her approaching though, dropping whatever conversation she has been part of.

“Heyyy! Leonie. Where have you been?” Her speech is slightly slurred, so to the untrained eye you would definitely mistake Sara as being sober right this moment. Leonie knows better though.

“I was gonna ask the same question. How much have you had? You smell like alcohol.”

“Not much…” Sara seems to be thinking real hard. “Just a few beers…and also this” as she gestures vaguely at a nearly-empty bottle that emanates a heavy smell of alcohol. Leonie wrinkles her nose.

“You drank all this by yourself?” Leonie is mildly exasperated, which is not helped by the fact that Mario is raising his eyebrows and smirking slightly.

“None of us can stop her.” Mario joins the conversation.

Leonie rolls her eyes. As if Sara could put up a fight if anyone wants to stop her drinking while she had had a few too many already.

“Yeah, sure.” She replies sarcastically, turning away from Mario.

“Are you excited for Shakespeare?” Sara asks, other people at the table all but forgotten. “It is going to be so cool! I can’t believe Luise took so long to decide to do Shakespeare. Do you think we’d get to play?” Sara is obviously more excited than she usually is, all the while slightly slurring.

“Sara, I am the stage manager, remember? You are going to do so well though.” Leonie humours Sara, while steering her away from the alcohol and _people_ at the table.

Sara just hums. She is not really processing thoughts at the moment, Leonie knows from experience. She is also leaning heavily against Leonie despite the height difference, and she is trying hard not to start screaming internally.

Not like this is the first time that this has happened anyway.

“Let’s get you home, okay?”

* * *

**2 Jan 2021**

_Sara_  
“I feel shit” – 11:21

 _Leonie_  
“Good morning to you too” – 11:24  
“Try not to empty a bottle of vodka next time” – 11:24

 _Sara_  
“I didn’t” – 11:32

 _Leonie_  
“Sure :)” – 11:34

* * *

**7 Jan 2021**

_Donnerstag 15:21_

They meet almost whenever they both have free time, though they have a tendency to rotate through cafés on a weekly basis, for reasons unknown. At this point it is like a tradition between the two of them anyway. University is starting back up in a week’s time, and they are hanging on to time to chill out and not be stressed about anything.

Just yesterday though, Leonie was ditched by Sara.

Sara slides into the seat opposite her just as she got started with this thought.

“How’s Matteo?” Leonie asks automatically, in lieu of a greeting.

Sara just rolls her eyes. “You don’t seriously hate him that much, do you?”

Leonie just shrugs. “I suppose not.” He has not totally forgiven Matteo for the shit he has pulled on Sara, but she thinks she understands the mitigating circumstances surrounding Matteo.

“If you are interested, he’s doing better. Going to therapy helps, I suppose. Also doing better in his computer science things than you and I would have expected, though I still don’t know what the hell those are.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“He still feels guilty about that. He can’t seem to shake it.”

“Oh.” Leonie actually sympathises for Matteo.

“I thought you hate him.”

_For stealing you away even after all that, mostly._ Leonie thinks, but does not say it out loud. 

“So, Shakespeare.” Leonie changes the topic instead.

“Yeah. Shakespeare.”

“What do you think Luise is going to pick?” Leonie is referring to the only director the club has for its productions after the whole Stefan debacle, which incidentally means the only director at the club both of them have worked with. She is good though, so it is not really a problem yet that no one else seem interested in getting involved in directing plays. Luise is graduating this year though.

“Romeo and Juliet? It is a classic. I would like to play that before I graduate, I think.”

Leonie shivers at the thought of Sara playing Juliet, with Mario playing Romeo.

Just. No.

“It would seem a sensible choice given it is so well known, I suppose it will be less risky?” Leonie ignores what just have flashed through her brain.

“Yeah, it would be so cool.”

They just chat on and on for the rest of the afternoon over their respective (emptied) cups of coffee. They never lack things to talk about, even when they basically live in each other’s pocket. Leonie likes this.

Truth be told, she sometimes regrets living off campus rather than in a dorm, and she wonders if Sara feels the same about it. She would certainly not mind living with Sara and have all of this even more, plus it could provide a clearer cut between high school and university in her mind, but she knows it is more financially reasonable to stay at home, when you live in Berlin in the first place and go to university in the same city. She also knows Sara would rather save up more money, having experienced his father losing his job and running out of reserves to the point that they had to move to a smaller house.

This is enough, Leonie decides. She thinks they are now at a decent middle ground of getting a lot of Sara while still being reasonable about life in general. You cannot always win anyway.

They eventually part when it is nearly 7 pm, when Sara starts yawning and jokingly tells Leonie she is still hungover from the new year’s party.

* * *

**9 January 2021**

_Samstag 14:29_

_You gotta be fucking kidding me._

That is the first thing that came to Sara’s mind when she read the text. She reads it again.

 _Mario_  
“Luise broke her leg :( ” – 13:52

This is not something Sara expects to come back to when she left to have a digital-detox lunch.

She wants things like people proclaiming their love for her and actually meaning it ( _Sorry for the unintentional shade, Matteo._ ); Being told that she is going to be a lead in a theatre production; Being told her singing talent has attracted labels… Hell, even being told she is going to get on the dean’s list for the semester would be better than this.

Literally anything could be better than this.

 _Sara_  
“Can she still direct?” – 14:31

 _Mario_  
“I don’t know. Luise says she is asking around. She doesn’t think she can” – 14:32

Sara wants to scream into her pillow in frustration. She worked so hard for all of this, and now there is the unknown of whose next after Luise, and if Sara could work well with them. Hell, is Sara going to get to play at all? And if she somehow does, is Shakespeare now off the table?

She sighs and texts Leonie.

 _Sara_  
“Mario told me Luise broke her leg” – 14:35

 _Leonie_  
“Shit. For real?” – 14:36

 _Sara_  
“I think so.” – 14:37  
“All that hard work.” – 14:37

 _Leonie_  
“Hey, look, whoever that is going to replace her will see your talent as well.” – 14:38

 _Sara_  
“If they can get anyone to agree to come on. You know it is still difficult.” – 14:40

 _Leonie_  
“I cannot disagree with that, but let’s not worry about something we cannot control.” – 14:42  
“What about coffee at _Mugs_?” – 14:42

 _Sara_  
“Sure. See you at half past 3.” – 14:44

Leave it for Leonie to be the grounding force for Sara sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta-ed like the first three chapters of _big-screen_  
>  HMU at davenziabend.tumblr.com


	2. The Director

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is fresh off the press and it is 3AM for me, so obviously no beta and this may make no sense at all.  
> Also: This is the only David-only chapter.

**15 January 2021**

_Freitag 13:17_

David finds himself once again in the faulty lounge of film school, like this is his natural habitat, when he is in fact a second-year student, and not actually part of the faculty. It is not like he is that annoying student that tries to go to these places to annoy professors with questions, or worse yet, to try to get closer to the faculty and gain brownie points so they can gain some sort of nonexistent advantage when it comes to grading. As if film school is all about grading. Some of the people here really are not suited for film school at all, if you ask David.

David is here, seated amongst a number of faculty members, having lunch with them, despite the fact that classes don’t even resume until next week. Several of these faculty are people who have taught, or are teaching, David’s classes. While David pays not much attention to this, he is being seen as one of the most exciting prospective directors to come through in Germany, and particularly, this school, in a very long time. The faculty members liked him so much that they started inviting him to their lunch gatherings, and as time passed, David has slowly become part of this clique despite the fact that he is a student.

Of course, David is careful to keep his distance. For one, he is a student, so it is imperative for him to not get too close to people in the faculty, lest it becomes a sticking point for some jealous people that could accuse the professors of not being impartial about David’s work. Another thing is more about David’s general attitude about people: More often than not people hurt you for who you are, so David endeavours to not really open himself up to people if he can help it, so people do not know enough of him to make him vulnerable to be hurt by them. It is like part of his brand, really, the dark, cold, mysterious guy that lets so little out of him. _Like a vampire._

One of the things David likes about this clique is the fact that they mostly talk about film, art and culture in general. Okay, if he is being real, they also talk about themselves and family and other mundane, personal things, though David is never once asked about it, and he never volunteered anything. He likes this arrangement well enough.

They have been talking about Jim Jarmusch today, and this is very much David’s forte, being a big fan of his work, and particularly _Only Lovers Left Alive_. Fittingly, or rather partly because, a vampire film. They were deep in discussion about auteur theory, then narrative structure and plot progression, then about independent filmmaking and the trend with franchise films. The discussions are at times heated, but nonetheless a very good intellectual exercise. David nearly always goes toe to toe with the faculties in these discussions, and he thinks he can understand why they love to invite him to tag along to their gatherings. He takes a lot away from these meetings as well, as he is very much a sponge that absorbs a lot from this type of constructive experiences. It is a win-win, really.

Or is it?

When there is a break in their debate about the cultural role of films in the modern era, Harald, a scripting faculty who is sitting next to him turns to him and asks David. “I heard that Luise is asking around for a director for theatre?”

David kind of knew this is coming. While he mostly keeps to himself around other students, he has heard murmurs about Luise breaking her leg while walking through the administrative office yesterday.

Theatre club is sort of a mess, really, David knows, as he has heard stories about the club previously letting a management student taking over as director and majorly screwing up a production, leading to a small exodus of actors and directors. He thinks he has this person, Stefan, in the common core class in environmental science that he has registered in for the semester.

He also knows Luise is the only director at the theatre club after that debacle, and he saw the people talking about Luise looking at him as he walked past them at the restaurant.

And also there is also the fact that he has avoided calls from an unknown number that tried to reach him at least three times yesterday.

 _David Schreibner is the talented and mysterious director._ David knows this is his reputation, and that people want to see his productions.

On the other hand, David is very much trying to avoid this. He does not really care for his reputation, he just did it to _protect_ himself. Not taking up this position though, if it is really offered to him, means that he would have less on his plate, and he could hopefully avoid attention. As things stand he already hates the attention from his peers because of his work. Too much of his time is spent blowing off people trying to get close to him because of his talents, he can do with less bullshit, thank you very much.

“Oh, is she?” He decides to play dumb.

“I heard she broke her leg. I think she has not signed up for any of the classes that needs her to produce things or like walk in general for this semester.” Another faculty joins in.

“Must be bad.” Another lady, David recognises her, he thinks she’s an acting faculty.

“I saw her yesterday, she told me she’s trying to get you, David.” Harald delivers the news David does not want to hear.

“I mean, there are so many people that can do that…” David tries.

“Look, I know the club is in sort of a precarious state, from you know…” Harald says, David knows what he is referring to, “…they would do well to have a steady hand.” _You._ “Also, I know you are a theatre kid at heart, I don’t know why you haven’t been involved with them yet.”

Harald is not wrong. David _loves_ theatre, or performative arts in general. It is partly why he is a film student in the first place.

“I am not trying to pressure you into it, really. Just think about it? I can understand if you think there is too much on your plate…”

“Okay. Harald, I can do it.” David decides. If nothing else, he can add theatre direction to his experience, and if it goes wrong, he can always blame it on the mess Stefan caused.

“Are you sure?”

“Just don’t blame me if Joachim over there think I am slacking off in his class and comes for your neck.” David raises his tea in the direction of the gentleman opposite him, actually cracking a joke.

“I know you won’t. Let me know if you need help though.”

“So, what else do I need to know?” He is all business again, no need for unnecessary conversation.

“Just do something from Shakespeare.”

“Okay, sure.”

Then another faculty member that David does not recognise starts talking about how franchises are flogging dead horses by recycling the same characters over and over for profit, and the table launches into another round of heated debate again.

* * *

**18 Jan 2021**

_Montag 11:14_

Classes resume today, but David does not have any class for the day other than the 8:30 am class he just got out of a few minutes ago. He has agreed to meet Luise and her stage manager, so David can ease into the environment and start his preparations quickly.

He heads to the café around the corner to get himself a bagel and a cup of tea to go so he can have some sort of late breakfast, preferably before the others arrive.

He navigates himself to the theatre building. He has never been here, or any theatre for the matter in a while, as he stopped doing theatre and also tried to avoid being a center of attention since things changed drastically in his life. He pushes the door open and heads for the side corridor which leads to the rehearsal rooms and offices that the theatre club and also some acting classes use.

He enters the main office of the theatre club, or what he would call war room if he is directing a production, where he would make it his base. He sits down at one of the long tables which he supposes can be used for meetings, and sets down his tea, then starts eating his bagel.

He is just done with his food when the door swings open, and in comes a wheelchair – Luise, with a girl with long hair following her.

“Hey.” He stands up and greets. “How’s the leg?” He does not really mean it, but he figures showing sympathy would not hurt him.

“Been better. Thanks for agreeing to take over though, I know you must be busy.”

“No worries.”

Luise gestures to the girl behind her. “Leonie Richter, the stage manager.”

David looks over and sees the girl staring at him. It is not surprising after all, David is sort of that mysterious figure that people know little about.

He extends his hand. “David Schreibner.”

After a beat, Leonie recovers and shakes his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

They sit down around the table, and David takes a sip out of his tea.

“I have decided on Julius Caesar.” David is straight to the point.

“Oh. That is cool. A bit left field but it is now your production, so I respect that.”

“Less comparisons, I suppose.” David is being truthful, he does not need to start worrying about how people will perceive his work.

“Okay. I look forward to that. Do you have anyone to bring on board the team?”

“No.”

“So. Leonie?”

And Leonie joins the conversation. “The way I work with Luise, I of course have the function of a stage manager, coordinating with all parties and also materials and reacting if there are any issues on the fly and whatnot, though I also work as a director’s assistant of sorts, taking care of things like scheduling and helping with the administrative side of things and getting things organised. I don’t know how you prefer to work, so please do let me know.”

She is straightforward and no bullshit, David observes.

“That works for me. I will let you know if something comes up.”

“Sure.”

The three of them fall into conversation about experiences and takeaways from previous productions that Luise directed, her perceptions on the cast she has worked with, as well as more logistical things like what resources the club possesses, and how they usually schedule rehearsals as well as the norms of what happens when it comes to the actual performances.

More than an hour passes by the time they are winding down their conversation.

“Do you want to meet the club?” Leonie asks.

“I don’t think…”

“It’s just so they know who you are and what you expect from them, before the actual casting.” Leonie cuts him off.

She really is no bullshit.

“Okay, sure. Does Thursday work?”

“I will make them show up on Thursday.”

* * *

**21 Jan 2021**

_Donnerstag 17:42_

There is quite a crowd in there. That is the first thing David observes when he pushes the door to the theatre open. Judging by the reputation of the club (which is still in tatters despite two good productions by Luise) and how Luise described the struggle of casting actors for her productions, this is not normal.

David backtracks out of the door to look at the sign.

_Theatre Club Director’s Meeting_

So yeah, he is at the right place at the right time.

He steps back in again, walking towards the front, deliberately choosing the aisle to the side so he could walk in without being seen. He can hear the murmurs.

_Theatre. Who? New Director. Get a role. Not Stefan._

He can tell there is a buzz over the fact that there is a new director. From what he can gather, they do not know said person is David. He wonders what will happen when the cat is out of the bag.

He slips to backstage undetected. He can see Leonie there, talking with a taller girl with blond hair. He is putting down his backpack to the side when blond-haired girl noticed him. He sees her eyes widening and then shaking Leonie, not so subtly pointing in the direction of David.

Leonie turns then smiles at blond-haired girl, saying something in her ear. Then walks over to David.

“Hey, David, you ready for the crowd?” She is friendlier when she is not talking business.

“Yeah, just a moment.”

David sees blond-haired girl following their conversation, growing more confused. Leonie notices as well.

“Oh, sorry. This is Sara Adamczyk, she has been on cast for the past few productions.” She tells David, then turns to Sara. “This is David Schreibner, director”

Sara lets out a strangled “Obviously” at Leonie, and shakes David’s extended hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Sara then quickly makes her way back to the theatre hall, joining the others.

Leonie just smiles fondly. “She is nervous about this. I didn’t tell her you’re replacing Luise.”

“You’re friends, I suppose?” David is curious. Curiosity is part of his nature but he rarely lets it show.

“Yeah. I’ve known her for many years, maybe pushing a decade.” Leonie says, though David can tell there is something more behind this, he does not know what though.

“Okay, I will see you at the front in a minute?” Leonie turns back to business.

“Sure.”

With that, Leonie goes out and addresses the crowd.

She greets the crowd and tells them the news that Luise has broken her leg and cannot direct, which obviously everyone knows by now, and that they have got someone else agreeing to come on to direct the upcoming production. She tells them the usual arrangement of script and casting form distributions and all the other logistical details like back-stage roles that are open for signing-up and so on.

There is a usual murmur among the crowd as Leonie goes on, as most of the people here are not new, as Leonie told him on Monday, so they most likely are still talking amongst themselves and not paying full attention to her.

David slowly makes his way to the front, just as Leonie is about to pass the time to the new director.

As he walks into view, the whole theatre falls silent. Then excited murmurs explode.

At this moment Leonie says “…David Schreibner, our new director.”

David introduces himself again to the crowd, and talks to them about his expectations from the people casted to play, then introduces the play _Julius Caesar_ , launching into an analysis and dissection of the play itself and about the roles. He has decided gender does not matter for the roles for equal opportunities for everyone, and also a more modern twist to the play so they can not worry about things like costumes and so on.

He can tell the audience is either enraptured by his in-depth presentation or bored out of their minds by his winded analysis. He does not really care.

He eventually wraps up his introduction about the play and tells them the casting will happen in two weeks, and that it is an open casting to bring more competition for places in the play, then dismisses the people assembled.

* * *

Leonie stayed behind with David back in the office, hammering out details for logistics and scheduling. David hated doing things like these, and was resigned for a grind, when Leonie just pulls out a folder with all the dates that the theatre is available circled out; dates when the play can take place marked down and on several other pieces of paper, the past logistical plan, and her proposed logistics plan on this play.

David is beyond impressed by this level of organisation, which gave them a head start in making decisions, and it took way quicker than he ever thought to be possible to block out the rehearsal dates on the booking system and to come up with a preliminary logistical plan that they think could work for the production. By the time they wrap up, it is not even 8 pm yet.

He thanks Leonie for her efforts and tells her to text him if anything comes up. He nearly never gives out his phone number but reasons that it facilitates work.

As he leaves the building, he sees Sara sitting on the benches in the corridors, presumably waiting for Leonie. He nods at her in greeting as he walks past.

The hard work starts now, David figures.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realise the word-count of this is a bit on the lower side, but c'est la vie, the plot is a bit too loosely plotted for my liking.
> 
> Please comment, you know the drill :)
> 
> HMU at davenziabend.tumblr.com


	3. Brutus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again: Fresh off the press, no beta. You know the drill.

**22 Jan 2021**

_Freitag 11:39_

Sara has been bordering on freaking out on and off for more than 17 hours at this point. She was at backstage talking to Leonie yesterday evening, talking about where to get dinner together when they were done with this ‘Meet the new director’ thing that the club is doing. That also turned Sara’s attention to poking Leonie for information, as it obviously looked like Leonie knew something she did not. Despite her best efforts, Leonie kept her mouth shut, no matter what Sara was asking about – who the new director is, what is the play about, when is the casting.

“He told me not to tell anyone yet.” Leonie just simply told her.

Sara was about to shake Leonie, as if that would make her spill information, when she saw a figure, clad in all black, wearing a beanie, and a pair of brown-rimmed hipster glasses – an outfit associated to only one person on campus, really, then she realised.

David Schreibner is here.

She shook Leonie and pointed at David as discreetly as she could, and when Leonie followed her line of sight, she just _chuckled_ , as if this is daily occurrence, and whispered in Sara’s ear. “There is our new director.”

If Sara was any more dramatic, she would just drop to the floor right there and then. She followed the interaction between the two of them, as if they _knew_ each other. Which in retrospect, might not be as groundbreaking as it seemed at the moment, Leonie must have met David with Luise before this meeting was arranged, but still.

Sara all but ran off backstage back to the audience, trying not to freak out about this. Mario, who came in late, took the place next to her when he came in.

She sees David control the stage with ease, realising this is the first time she actually heard David speak, and wondering why that would be the case when it seemed the stage is like a natural habitat to David. She listens to David launching into the analysis of _Julius Caesar_ , which granted is not _Romeo and Juliet_ , and Sara is plenty excited about, but she is impressed by how seriously David is taking this, going into much more detail already than she ever experienced in the first meeting that David was only meant to introduce the basic information.

Leonie told Sara “I hope it will be quick.” And disappeared with David into the office when the meeting is dismissed.

Mario came over and asked if she had plans. She told him that she was having dinner with Leonie, and Mario bid her goodnight and left.

Sara is not sure how much time has passed, but the clock had not even struck 8 yet when she saw David walking past her, nodding in greeting.

Leonie followed a few moments later, and they went to have dinner together at the Italian place around the corner from the campus, decidedly not talking about the upcoming play.

Now though, as Sara is seated in the café waiting for Leonie to show up, she is starting to freak out again, thinking about the production.

Leonie slides into the seat in front of her with drinks for both of them and Sara didn’t even notice until she sees the cup appearing in front of her.

“What the fuck? It is David Schreibner!” Sara whispers shouts at Leonie when it registers that Leonie is now in front of her, in lieu of any greeting or any sensible conversation starter.

Leonie, either taking the piss out of Sara or genuinely confused by how the conversation started, turns around to survey the café. “Where?”

“No! Theatre!” Sara whispers shouts again. Leonie turns back and looks at her.

“Yeah. I know. I was shocked too when I saw him.”

Sara sighs. “Literally the best director on campus? And he is doing an open-casting? He is so not casting me, Leonie.” She rests her forehead against the table, stretching out. She can feel Leonie taking her hands. “So many people are going to the casting just for the chance to work with him. Why does it have to be like this?”

“You don’t know that.”

She lifts her head to look at Leonie. “No, just listen to the people around us, I have heard theatre mentioned like twenty times already in the past hour and I have never seen more than half of those people in theatre ever before.”

She sees Leonie turning her head slightly, as if pricking up her ears to eavesdrop on the people around them. After a moment, “Yeah, okay.”

Sara deflates in defeat.

Leonie adds though, “It doesn’t change the fact you’re an amazing actor, Sara, I know you will get casted on the play. I will personally fight David if it doesn’t happen.”

Sara smiles at that. Leonie is such a good friend. “You won’t.”

“We will never find out, because that will never happen.” Leonie looks at her seriously. “I believe in you, Sara.”

Sara feels more grounded than she has been since yesterday evening.

“So, how’s psychology coming along?” Leonie changes the topic, diverting Sara’s attention.

At some point, Leonie got up and bought a piece of cake for Sara, when she let slip the fact that she hadn’t had breakfast because how she has been freaking out about this, and they stayed in the café for way too long and nearly ran late their respective classes.

They ran into Mario just as they were about to part ways to their respective classes, Sara falling into conversation with Mario, and when she turns back over, Leonie is already on her way to her class down the corridor.

* * *

**23 January 2021**

_Samstag 15:01_

Leonie is sat in Sara’s room, playing with the bigger-than-your-face remote that she somehow still kept nearly two years on, while Sara is out in the kitchen fixing up tea for both of them.

While Leonie tried her best to reassure Sara that she should not be so stressed about everything, the casting is still more than a week away and she is going to do fine, Leonie could not exactly turn her down when Sara asked her to come and help her out with her preparations for casting.

It might also have something to do with the fact that Leonie would not pass up the opportunity of spending time with Sara, not when the alternative means most likely some other people, like _Mario Schneider_ takes up Sara’s time. Leonie would very much prefer not to happen when she has the choice, thank you very much.

Sara returns with two mugs of tea, handing one over to Leonie.

“Here you go.”

“Thanks.”

Sara settles down on the beanbag across Leonie, taking a sip of the tea.

“Who do you think I should cast for?”

“What do you have in mind then?” Leonie inquires.

As far as Leonie is concerned, a person as talented as Sara would have no problems taking on any role in a theatre play, she has seen it with her own two eyes, and as long as Sara thinks she is suited to a role, then Leonie will support her no matter what.

“I don’t know. Maybe Caesar or Antony?”

“Caesar dies in Act Three though.”

“Brutus is tempting, but there will be so many capable people trying to get that role…”

“Which role do you want though?”

Sara seems to want to say something, but then reconsidered it. In the end, she just says “I’ll try for Antony. It seems a safer bet.”

Leonie seems to sense that this is not what Sara actually wants, but she just told herself that she would support Sara no matter what, so she will respect that decision.

“Okay, so are we running the lines?”

“Yeah. Just let me get my script.”

Truth be told, Leonie does not think Sara needs anyone to run the lines with her, especially when it is just for casting, where no one would bat an eyelid if you go onto the stage with a script in hand. Leonie can understand though, if Sara wants to know the lines for the scene she is going to use for casting, if nothing to impress the new director. There will be more competition than usual, Leonie can gather, given the amount of forms she has received in person, in the submission box, as well as through the club’s email account. She still thinks Sara got this though, if someone were to ask her for her opinion.

Leonie is glad that Sara asked her to help her prepare for her casting, as there are so many other people Sara could ask for, many are actual actors that she has worked with in previous productions, and also the fact that Leonie does not really have much to do to actually _help_ Sara, only to try to comment when Sara asks for feedback, and to prompt her here and there when she needs it.

Most of the time though, Leonie _helping_ Sara mostly involves Leonie sitting on the side and just looking at Sara.

Sara is so good when she is in her element, Leonie thinks, her face expressive, and her acting in general getting the emotions of the character across. There is an air of the mood of the character emanating from Sara, like she is totally immersed as the character. The eloquence of Antony is very really gets across, Leonie thinks, the way how Antony is trying to turn public opinion against the conspirators, and Leonie thinks it would also work on the audience too.

At some point, when Sara gets more into her groove and no longer needs Leonie’s prompting, Leonie gets a bit zoned out, staring at Sara’s bright eyes, then her hands as she waves her arms to accentuate the emotions.

Leonie has held Sara’s hands and hugged her for more times she could count, but Leonie knows on all occasions, it is very purely platonic, and while she knows she could hold those hands for hundreds of times more, it is not in the context she wants it to be. 

Leonie’s eyes drift to Sara’s lips. She wants to kis…

Sara is waving her hands in front of her eyes, Leonie snaps out of her trance, and rubs her face. Why does she do this to herself?

“Earth to Leonie?”

“Yeah, sorry. I am…tired.” Leonie tries. She looks at the clock, it is somehow already 17:33. Time really flies when she is in the company of Sara. She swears it was just 15 minutes ago when Sara brought in the two cups of tea.

“Yeah, me too. I was going to ask if you want to head out for dinner.” Sara smiles at Leonie, seemingly totally unaware of what just went through Leonie’s head.

“Oh, yeah, sure!” Leonie collects herself.

They head to the Thai place where both of them love to have dinner from time to time.

It is almost like this is the normal, Leonie and Sara, just the two of them, spending lots of time together, studying, having meals, hanging out and everything in between. Leonie likes this a lot, when no one else is squeezing in and claiming time with Sara for their own.

Except for the fact that.

They are just friends, and Sara is bound to find _someone_ that she is going to date, with Leonie becoming an afterthought. It is just a matter of time.

Leonie decidedly chooses not to think about that.

They are talking about anything other than theatre club over dinner. Leonie thinks this may help Sara, taking her mind off what seems to be stressing her out a lot currently.

Sara asks a question randomly, while they were halfway through their respective meals.

“Oh right, are you going to volunteer to look after the counter at the club the next time they set up a counter?”

“What club, and when?” Leonie asks. She does not think Sara would be talking about Theatre tonight, and she does not want to assume the alternative.

“Well, the LGBTQ+ club, do you remember?”

Of course Leonie remembers. It was nearly a year ago, one day when Leonie was waiting for Sara to be done with a date with some guy she does not remember the name of. She was stood on the side in the corridor, when someone walks by, handing her a leaflet. It was a leaflet for the LGBTQ+ club.

She just stared dumbly at the leaflet for a long time. Leonie knows who she is and what she wants perfectly well. It is just that this has never came up since she figured out who she was, because she just did not date anyone and she just happened to have never talked about her love life and love interest in general.

Sara somehow popped up by her side at that moment, craning her neck over Leonie’s shoulder to see what she was staring at, telling Leonie that she has been thinking of joining as an ally when she realises what that is and asking if Leonie was thinking about joining as well. Leonie just dumbly agreed and then suddenly both of them became members as allies.

“Yeah, maybe if we have time.” Back in the present, Leonie answers the question.

 _Ally my ass, Richter._ Leonie thinks.

* * *

**28 January 2021**

_Donnerstag 19:15_

Leonie’s free time is mostly split between Sara and working with David, aside from working on her assignments and projects. It is quite tiring, but Leonie finds it quite fulfilling all the same, working with David and seeing the backstage plan with all its cues and scene planning take shape, as well as working out David’s requirement on props and whatnot on one hand; and having the excuse of helping Sara preparing for her casting to spend more time with her on the other (which is not really _fulfilling_ , if you catch Leonie’s drift, but she does it anyway).

She has been sitting in the office, or _war room_ , as David calls it, working out how the scene transitions would work and how many people they would need to work on this, so they can be ready to have an idea of how many people to recruit as well by the time they do the casting.

They have been at this for nearly two hours at this point. Mid-conversation, David stretches, like everyone would do, then _hisses_. Leonie drops her pen from making annotations to her copy of the script and looks at David.

David tries to pretend nothing has happened, subtly but gingerly putting his arms down and flipping his copy of the script. “Okay, Act Four Scene Two…”

He is about to dive into the details on the set up when Leonie cuts him off.

“David.”

“What?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.” David grimaces.

“You are lying.”

“No.” He is guarded.

Leonie rolls her eyes. It is obvious David is in some sort of pain. Maybe he pulled his back or something. She found out that David exercises a lot, she figures. Leonie ran into David before 7 AM on a weekday recently on her way back to the university to prepare for a presentation she had for the day, David was on his morning run. Leonie was not even half awake when that happened.

Leonie does not know why he seems to push himself so hard, from what she can figure spending time around David, but that does not seem healthy at all.

“Look, I don’t know what’s up, but you need a break, or rest, or whatever. Don’t try to push yourself to the limit, okay? This we are doing here is not urgent at all. Nothing in life is worth breaking yourself over. If sitting here working is breaking you, then we can do it another time”

“Sorry. It’s been a long day. Just, can we take a long-ish break? You can go get food if you want to. I might take a while.”

“Or we can just continue tomorrow. Don’t push yourself, really.”

Leonie does not know what David is on, but she is having none of it. She may have known David not for long, but she knows that everyone should care for themselves, and really, this is not urgent at all. Leonie can do with some rest for the day too, if David needs it.

David deflates. “Okay.”

Leonie all but kicks David out of the war room, who disappears in the direction of the toilet soon after they exited the theatre building.

“I locked the office so don’t you even think of sneaking back in!” Leonie yells after him.

David waves in acknowledgement.

Leonie just goes on her own way for the Italian place again. While Italy produced people like Matteo Florenzi that Leonie sometimes hold a mild resentment against, their food is quite good, and nothing stops her from grabbing food there.

She is halfway through her slice of pizza when her phone vibrates on the phone.

 _David_  
“Thank you.” – 19:42

* * *

**2 Feb 2021**

_Dienstag 19:00_

It is casting day. And it is as if everyone and their mother are going to try to get themselves casted for an opportunity to work with _David Schreibner_. Sara spent most of her lessons for the day unable to focus and worried about how casting would turn out for her. Her ears are as if they are calibrated to be hyperaware for any keywords that are related to theatre club, and it sure as hell seemed like everyone is talking about casting.

It is not as if Sara is exaggerating. When she stepped into the auditorium, it is much more crowded than it usually seemed to be on casting days. There must be like a hundred people trying to get themselves casted, not that Sara is counting. But it sure seemed to her it is the case.

When she arrives at the front, where the gaggle of people who are participating in the casting are situated, she sees Leonie, who hugs her in greeting, whispering in her ear “You got this.” Then pressing a quick kiss to her cheek (Sara is too in her head to notice.), then as soon as she appeared, Leonie is nowhere to be seen again.

What she knows though, is that Leonie is definitely in control of the PA system today, as her voice comes ringing around her.

“Okay, everyone. David is ready at the back, so we will start the casting process soon. Remember, as I stated in the email, we might ask you to stop if you are taking too long, since there are quite a number of candidates here today.”

There is commotion as people settle down, waiting for the process to begin.

“First of the night, Ingrid Baumann for Octavius.”

A girl stood up just as someone in the crowd spoke up. “Wait, why is a girl auditioning for a male role?”

“We announced that anyone can audition for any role, and the roles are not gendered.” Leonie answers through the PA system.

“Like, how does this work? How is this even fair?”

“Backstage please,” Leonie says, as the lights for the auditorium turn back on. Sara can now see that Leonie is standing at the back, holding a microphone, with David seated a few seats over. His eyes are steely, Sara can tell even from the vast distance. “You can get out right now if you have any problems.” Leonie says with finality.

“Who are you? You are not the director!” The guy challenges back. Sara is this close to reaching over and punching the guy in the face. No one gets to speak to her best friend like that.

“I said. Get. Out.” Leonie commands. David still staring holes in the direction of the guys, saying nothing.

It takes a few moments, but the guy eventually leaves the auditorium under the pressure of irritated people around him.

“Backstage please,” Leonie says again, as the lights dim again, Leonie and David disappearing in the darkness. “Thank you. Now, without delay, Ingrid Baumann, please.”

Everything goes by in a blur, with one face replacing the other over and over on the stage. There is one or two people that are obviously struggling, seemingly new to this setting, maybe simply drawn by the fact that David Schreibner is the director. Leonie, maybe at the request of David, put them out of their misery relatively quickly.

“Mario Schneider, for Cassius.” Nearly everyone perks up at Leonie’s announcement. Sara thinks she may have imagined it, but she thinks there is a coolness behind the way she said Mario’s name. Maybe it is just the nerves making Sara hearing things.

Mario winks at Sara as he walks past her on his way to the stage. She smiles back. Sara thinks that Mario is a nice person, good-looking, cute, ice-blue eyes, dark-brown hair that is always styled. Humorous, and seem to be a caring person in general. There is also the fact that recently, the two of them have been spending time here and there having a coffee or lunch together, particularly when Leonie is working with David. Sara would not call those dates though, but it sure is nice to spend some pleasant time with someone.

Mario absolutely killed his audition for Cassius, Sara thinks, showing why he has been a lead for the past two productions. She is also low-key thankful that she did not choose Cassius, as she would have been blown out of the water by him. He may even be capable of taking the role of Brutus, if you ask Sara.

Soon after, “Sara Adamczyk, for Antony.” Sara’s heartbeat quickens. She is obviously not new to this, but this is one of the most nervous casting she has been to, given the amount of people she is competing against. Leonie’s voice rings in her head “You go this.”, and Sara really starts to believe.

As she steps onto the stage, she can see that the audience is in pitch-black. She cannot see anyone down there, and really focuses on her acting, getting into her element.

_“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!”_  
_“I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.”_

Everything fades to the background, as Sara lets herself being immersed into the role.

The scene finishes as soon as it begins, and Sara finds herself back at backstage, making her way back to her seat in the audience. It really went by like a blur. She just sat there, as the remaining candidates went on and off the stage, then suddenly casting is done.

As everyone around her are starting to leave, Leonie suddenly appears by her side, pulling Sara into a hug. “You did so well, Sara.” Sara just hugs back, still a bit disorientated by the happenings of the evening.

When they break apart, there is no more than a handful people left in the auditorium. Sara sees David approaching them.

“I will let you know soon.” He says to Leonie, Sara seeing Leonie wanting to say something. “And yes, I will take enough rest.” This is the first time Sara has heard David saying anything remotely related to himself, she does not have enough time to process this information though, as David next turns to Sara and says. “Well done tonight.”

Then he walks past them in the direction of the side-door that leads to the corridor to the offices.

(Leonie later tells Sara that she may have bossed David around for a bit to make sure he actually gets rest. Sara just smiles fondly at the fact that her best friend is so caring for everyone.)

* * *

**4 Feb 2021**

_Donnerstag 17:51_

Leonie is working on the revised rehearsal dates judging by the demands of the production that David commented on, after they initially blocked out the dates two weeks ago, as they figured they might need a bit more time to allow for the backstage crew to gel, as well as the fact that David wants more time to play it safe.

While Leonie is doing that, David is sat across the table, penciling on a piece of paper, flipping through the pile of casting forms that he had written notes all over (alongside a few doodles, Leonie noticed). It does not take a genius to figure out that David is thinking over the casting decisions.

They are talking about things, or rather, Leonie is making conversation talking about her classes and the day in general, while David does not actively participate, he still gives answers when Leonie asks about his day and whatnot. You can hardly just sit in silence when you are working with another person, can’t you?

Leonie never pushes though, if David does not want to talk about anything, nor does she try to make David talk about film, as she noticed a lot of people trying to talk to David about it when they happen to be in a room together, and how David subtly just blow off everyone.

“I’m glad I’m working with you, to be honest.” David volunteers, dragging Leonie out of her musings. She is a bit surprised, if she were being honest, as David nearly never initiates conversation unprompted unless it is about work. Okay, this maybe tangentially related to work, but it is not _necessary_ to facilitate work, so Leonie thinks it counts as well.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know. You’re straightforward and real, I guess. And also good at what you do. It saves me a lot of trouble.”

Leonie does not really know what David means, in the first part. But she does not have time to dwell on it, as David quickly changes the topic.

He slides the piece of paper he is writing on across the table.

“Here’s the list. Can you get it announced?”

Leonie pulls out her phone to snap a picture of it to send it back to David.

David raises his eyebrows at her.

“For safekeeping.”

“Good idea. I will call it an early night today. I’m tired.” David says as he stands up.

Leonie tries not to think that her campaign for David to get rest starts to have some minor effect. “Okay.” David does look like he needs some sleep though.

She proceeds to skim through the list, as David slips out of the door.

Her eyes widen. She stops breathing.

* * *

**5 Feb 2021**

_Freitag 09:41_

Leonie has just gotten the list printed in the office and is about to pin it to the board outside the office. She has sent out an email about an hour ago, notifying all the participants in casting that the results would be pinned on the board outside the club’s office at 10 AM.

She looks at the chat window she has with David on her phone.

 _Leonie R._  
(Photo of casting list, circling a name and role) – 20:03  
“Did I see this right?” – 20:03

 _David_  
“I’m sleeping.” – 20:04  
“Yes.” – 20:04

She locks her phone. She looks at the list on the board again. She is very excited about this, though she deliberately did not text Sara last night, lest she accidentally reveals the fact that she had the casting results in her hands already.

She makes her way back into the office, taking the seat behind the desk that is _technically_ the director’s seat, but David had so far refused to use, and sipping on her tea. She pulls out her laptop to run through the reservations and plans again to make sure everything is in order. Then she starts typing up a circular email to the cast about the essential information about rehearsals, when the door to the office swing open. Violently.

It is Sara.

“What the fuck.” Sara breathes.

She collapses into the chair opposite Leonie.

“Yeah, congratulations, Brutus.” She smiles at Sara.

“What the fuck, Leonie.” Sara whisper-shouts.

“You are casted as the protagonist of the play, Sara Adamczyk.” Leonie says, her excitement seeping out.

Sara catches one of Leonie’s hands and hold it. “I did it.” She whispers.

“Yes, you did it, Sara. I’m proud.”

They sit there for a while, Leonie trying to get the email finished, now with only one hand, which makes it understandably difficult.

Just as she is about to send the email, finally after the struggle, the door to the office opens again. A head poking in. _Mario Schneider._

Mario walks into the room, beaming at Sara, while all but ignoring Leonie, and pulls Sara into a hug. “Congratulations.”

Sara giggles. _Giggles_. “Congratulations to you too, Cassius.”

_Did Sara just take Leonie’s way of addressing Sara as Brutus, turning around and use it to Mario Schneider? While they are hugging? And why did the hug last so long?_

Leonie feels a pang in her stomach. She quickly presses send, and shoves her laptop into her bag, now with two hands, and makes for the door.

“Got a meeting.” She mutters as she exits the room.

She doesn’t. She just heads for the café and sat there until it is time for her next lecture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is like a driverless car, I kinda know where I want this to go but have no idea how we will get there.
> 
> Please comment :)
> 
> HMU at davenziabend.tumblr.com


	4. Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fresh off the press, take 3. Unbeta-ed and all.

**10 February 2021**

_Mittwoch 13:29_

Leonie hangs out increasingly often with David.

Okay, that is a misstatement.

Rehearsals have started recently, and it is still early days so obviously things are not going smoothly yet. There is little that can be resolved just by Leonie and David working together though at this point, as at the end of the day David can direct as hard as he can, and Leonie doing the backstage and behind the scenes work as much as she can, the end product is going to be expressed through the performance of the cast.

So yeah, it is not like they just meet up more often to do non-existent work either.

The fact of the matter is that, outside of rehearsal, Leonie is seeing Sara less, who is _busy_ doing god knows what.

Who is Leonie kidding? She knows very well why Sara is all but ditching Leonie from most of their weekday café meetups and occasional lunches and dinners. Some guy whose name starts with a letter M, once again.

It does not help matters that, even in rehearsal, Sara and Mario are just constantly together. Obviously when it is a scene that involves them, _Brutus and Cassius_ , that makes total sense. But also when they are just waiting around to the side of the room, which is totally unnecessary, unless…

So what does Leonie do when she is robbed of her hanging-out buddy? She sometimes goes to the library instead or sits by herself in the café. Though, sometimes she also goes to the _war room_ , where she can be undisturbed by others, either when she is focusing on her coursework, or when she is trying to catch up on the latest episode of the series she is following.

It so happens that David sometimes show up in the _war room_ too when Leonie is here. From what Leonie can gather, David comes to the office much more often than Leonie does, when he seemingly realised that people rarely come to this place. So far, Leonie has seen David seemingly drawing something in a worn out book, typing up something on his laptop, wearing a headphone over his head plugged in the laptop while clicking on his mouse (Leonie saw he was editing a video when she walked past, coming back from the toilet.) and also an array of different things. All that remains is for David to start doing exercise in here or start making a sculpture or something.

Depending on what they are doing, sometimes they just nod at each other in greeting when the other comes in or leave the room, usually when either or both of them are focusing on something important.

On days like these though, when they are simply hanging in the office waiting for time to pass, they strike up a conversation.

Or something that vaguely resembles a conversation.

David still holds a lot back, as Leonie usually leads the conversation, talking about everything, and asking David things here and there, while David sometimes would say something more if he felt like to, or on occasion, ask Leonie about her day or something else. As time goes by though, their exchange starts to become less awkward.

Leonie is eating takeout from the canteen, because she couldn’t find a place to sit when it is peak lunch hour for everyone around campus. Perks of having a club office that you can commandeer.

David has just polished off a sandwich that he has been eating when Leonie entered the office a few moments ago, now idly fiddling with the worn-out book Leonie saw him sketching in.

“You seem to come here a lot.” Leonie comments.

“Yeah.”

“Tired of people?” It is more of a joke, really.

“Yeah. No nosy or annoying people trying to get close.”

So David treats the office more or less as a _refuge_ from people.

“What about you?” David suddenly asks. It is not really sudden, to be fair, but Leonie is still not used to the occasions when David actually makes the effort to make conversation.

“Sorry?” Leonie is slightly disorientated.

“You seemed to have come here more often.” David comments.

Which is not wrong. Leonie came to the office three times just yesterday, two of the times while David was inside, and running into David in the corridor as she was leaving from the third.

“Just, I had more time on my hands.”

“Huh.” David sound unconvinced, but the answer seemed good enough for him nonetheless, given he didn’t say more.

Then again, David saying something at all is already quite groundbreaking.

“Yeah.” She sighs.

Leonie is just getting into her essay for media management when a head pokes into the office.

“Oh, here you are!” It is Sara. “Oh, and hi David”

“Hey.” Leonie greets. “I thought you were busy.” She couldn’t help but add.

“Ended early. Why didn’t you answer my texts?”

Leonie rolls her eyes internally. It is not as if she has the obligation to read her texts in the first place. “I didn’t check.”

“Anyway, do you want to go get coffee?”

She pauses for a moment. She can see David is not looking at them, focusing on whatever he is doing, but it would be hard sell to say he is not listening in on this exchange.

“Yeah, sure.”

David raises his mug in greeting as they head out.

* * *

**14 February 2021**

_Sonntag 21:57_

Leonie spent the weekend burrito-ed in bed rewatching most of the 43 episodes of the classic from the last decade, the Norwegian drama known as SKAM.

Her phone left somewhere across the room under a pillow, having resolutely refused to look at her messages, nor any form of social media. She is not even sure if the phone still has charge in it.

It is for the best.

* * *

**16 February 2021**

_Dienstag 17:43_

“You know, I would prefer if you don’t look like you want to murder my Cassius.”

It is another rehearsal day, and today they are focusing on a scene that involves both Brutus and Cassius heavily – the scene of the quarrel between the two characters after the regicide of Caesar. That naturally means that you would see a lot of interaction between Sara and Mario, both in character, and out of character.

Leonie did not really mean to do that, but it is not like she can really bring herself to stop shooting eye daggers in the direction of Mario either.

Mario and Sara may have gone on a date on 14th. Sara has been very hush-hush about how the date went down in front of Leonie but judging by the interactions that are unfolding in front of Leonie’s eyes, she figured it went very well for the two of them.

Leonie has been sitting to the side of the theatre, as her work for the day with the backstage crew is mostly done, with the transitions, lighting, costumes and all other things that are under her supervision going quite well since she last went to backstage to correct the issues that she caught. She meant to sit down in the seats so she could observe if there are any glaring issues that needs fixing, but she couldn’t help but look at Sara, and by extension Mario.

She hates that they seem to be closer than before, and she is pretty sure that the two of them are dating, which is a stab to the gut for Leonie, despite Sara claiming that _they are not dating_ when the topic came up once or twice during the few times Leonie actually had Sara to herself.

Who is she kidding, really.

Another couple of totally unrelated realisations comes to mind, as she turns to retort David.

First, David is somehow now sat next to her in the vast sea of empty seats in the auditorium, when she is pretty sure he was on the stage talking to Sara and Mario about what he wants out of the scene; and secondly, _did David Schreibner just crack a joke?_

Granted, despite David’s general guardedness, Leonie can tell that, maybe because they have spent quite a lot of time in each other’s company, David seem to be at relatively more ease around Leonie than other people that Leonie sees around him. For one, they can hold conversation that is not about the task at hand. This is the first time she really sees David _breaking character_ though.

“Did you just…” Leonie has a small smirk directed at David.

Maybe David is not really that cool and distant guy deep down.

“Doesn’t make what I say false.” David delivers with a deadpan, and is that a hint of smile tugging at his lips?

“I’m not doing whatever you said I was doing.” Leonie turns back to continue shooting eye daggers at Mario.

“Sure.” David comments, before he stands up and tries to gain the attention of the people on stage.

“Sorry, a moment… I want more intensity and tension between you two, there is a difference in conviction between the two characters, and I need a deeper contrast between the two of you.”

“Sure, we’ll try that.” Leonie hears Sara replying, her eyes momentarily drifting over to Leonie, but quickly snapping back to David.

“Dinner later?” David whispers as he sits back down next to Leonie.

Leonie considers the offer for a moment, looking at Sara on the stage. It is not like she will be ditching Sara anyway, considering she most likely had plans for dinner either way. Also, there is the fact that if David is making the effort to be friendly with Leonie, then she is not going to let that go to waste.

“Sure. Anything to keep you from working yourself into the ground.”

David rolls his eyes.

“That was one time.” He tries to deadpan, not too successfully.

* * *

_Dienstag 19:03_

Rehearsal ends early today, though granted they started earlier as well. It works for Sara, meaning that she could get dinner and not scarf down the food to try and make it to somewhere on time, and that she could just head home after dinner.

She made plans with Mario, obviously after their quite successful day on the 14th. They did not call it a date, but it sure as hell felt like one. For today though, it is simply having dinner together though. Low-key, nothing special.

She quite like what she is having right now, having the affections of someone, and giving it back, while at the same time there is not really something serious yet. Spending time with Mario is nice, as he never fails to crack a joke, and seems really interested in whatever Sara has to say, plus the hugs and hand-holdings and the staring at those ice-blue eyes and everything else.

Mario makes his way to Sara, after he retrieved his bag from the crowd, drawing her into a hug.

“Well done today, it’s hard work isn’t it.”

“Well done to you too, we basically play it off each other anyway.”

At this moment she sees Leonie leaving the hall with David. It feels weird. Leonie did not even bother to come over and ask if Sara had plans at any point today, though it is not as if she is obliged to ask anyway, so it is fair game anyway. Maybe.

“Ready to go?” Mario snaps her out of her trance.

“Oh, yeah.”

* * *

**19 February 2021**

_Freitag 13:22_

Leonie has just settled down in her seat for _Media Innovation and Entrepreneurialism_ when someone slides into the seat next to her. Kiki.

Leonie kind of made the effort to the promise to herself, really, to be nicer to Kiki. They do have several classes together for the semester, and they occasionally sit together in lectures, sometimes comparing notes and going for coffee together. They might even team up in one of the upcoming projects in this very class Leonie is sitting in.

Since Sara’s increased disappearances, Leonie has spent more time with her classmates, groupmates and other people in general, that is when she is not holed up in the _war room_. Kiki is one of the people she has spent more time together with as a result.

It is not like Leonie had not seen Sara at all for days on end, but compared with previously, it is a drastic reduction. Just yesterday, they have had dinner together as if nothing has changed, Sara saying something about volunteering for the counter next week.

“Hey, all good?” Kiki greets, pulling Leonie out of her musings.

“Yeah. Busy, I guess, but as well as it can get.” Leonie is decidedly not letting the Sara-shaped cloud about her head dampen her days.

“I think I saw you at the Italian place with David Schreibner on Tuesday?”

Leave it for Kiki to be the gossip queen though. Somethings never change.

“Well, we work together for theatre, do you remember?”

“Yeah! But, eating out with him? I can’t ever remember seeing him out with _anyone_.”

“Well I don’t know, we just had dinner on our way out because rehearsal ran a bit late that night.” Leonie is not going to surrender any more information than absolutely needed, though in her opinion that would have meant nothing at all, but this will do.

“Hm. Okay.” Kiki seems adequately appeased. “You have the reading for the class done?” She says as she pulled out the print-outs, complete with notes on the margin.

“Yeah, of course. Honestly? How do you even to manage to do this on top of everything else?”

“I don’t know, I just like doing the social media stuff and I just have to spend some more effort here and there to make everything work? Uni is still the priority anyway.”

“Hm, okay. We comparing notes again?”

“Yeah!”

They fall into easy conversation while they flip through their respective print-outs, pointing out things that they think are relevant and commenting on them, until the professor walks in to the lecture hall, once again five minutes late, the consistency can only be rivaled by the sun rising in the east daily.

* * *

**24 February 2021**

_Mittwoch 15:21_

Film class has let out early, given that today’s class was just for another short-film presentation, so it is not really a surprise. The other thing that is not really a surprise is the fact that David mopped the floor with his classmates again, and that he had again had to play the game of _blowing everyone off nicely_ , which is obviously very nice. (It’s not. He hates people that are not genuine.)

He is just mindlessly walking along the corridor trying to figure out if he should upload this project to his YouTube channel. He would be lying if he said he did not notice that his following has been growing, but he pays no mind to it. This does not mean anything if he does not make it to be a real director anyway.

It is among all this musing he realises there are a number of counters lining the side of the section of corridor he is currently passing. He normally just ignores everyone and goes on his own way.

Though this time, something, or rather, several things catch David’s attention.

There is the counter of LGBTQ+ club amongst the scrum of people. While David considers himself to be part of the community, he never joined the club, as he did not see the need for himself, added on top of the fact that he does not like to let people know of himself. He knows very well what could happen when the wrong people knows about the wrong thing, and he has worked very hard to distance himself from the bad memories of the past, so he is obviously not going to undo his work anytime soon.

The other thing though, is that he sees Leonie and Sara at the counter, or rather, looking after the counter. The curiosity inside David rears its head, so he steps closer as he approaches, greeting them.

“Hey.”

“Hi, David.” Sara greets back, while Leonie just nods in greeting.

He is not sure what to say though, without breaking character or letting anything show. “So, you…”

Sara is in the talkative mood though, “Yeah, we are members as allies and we are looking after the counter.”

Leonie is back at talking to someone next to him about something on the leaflet she is holding, but David noticed Leonie grimace minutely when Sara said “allies”.

“That’s nice.” David settles for.

Leonie joins the conversation, being done with the person next to him. “I think it is quite cool to volunteer for the club, getting word out for the space we have for the community and all that.” With that she walks to the other side of Sara, taking the inquiries of another person that just stopped by the counter.

“So, do you want to join? We take anyone with any labels really, even allies.”

David does not want to. He has decided about this long ago. “I’ll think about it,” shoving the leaflet offered by Sara into his backpack. “Listen, I gotta run, so catch you later, maybe at the rehearsal?”

“Yeah! See you.” Sara greets cheerfully.

Leonie, in conversation with the person, makes eye contact with David and raises her eyebrow in greeting.

As David continues his stroll down the corridor in the direction of the theatre building, he starts thinking.

He likes Leonie, as a friend. And wow, that sounds weird. _A friend_. David did not prepare for anyone else to be in his plan, but he think Leonie can be a friend. One of his reasons for simply not letting anyone get close to him is that he sees an ulterior motive behind the people, usually to try to take advantage of David’s talents or try to learn his trade secrets, or simply wanting to be associated with David for their _cool people points_. Leonie though, is straightforward and no bullshit. She is the person who is the counterpart of David in theatre, the commanding presence backstage as David is frontstage. Outside theatre, she never ever even brought up David’s film work, and when interacting with David she is always being friendly and genuine, interacting with David _the person_ , wanting to get to know David _the person_ , and cares for David _the person_.

There was the time that David left his binder on for too long on a long day, when he accidentally hissed in pain in front of Leonie. (It was just one time, David swears, he might push himself to work a lot, but he is very conscious when it comes to safety with binders.) She did not even know what the issue is with David, and she was so adamant for David to get rest, no matter what the issue could be, and that extended into her badgering David into taking more rest and not to push himself as hard with work. It is really sweet of her, if David is being real here. Leonie is just a nice person all round.

David pushes all his musings out of his head when he reaches his _war room_ , pulling out his laptop and blank paper, storyboarding for his next film project.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally just randomly type and out another chapter comes. I can tell that the next chapter should take long(er) and some pondering, if I stay vaguely on the arc, so don't hold your breath for another update in a day or two, I think.
> 
> The chapter count is currently planned to be eight, but it is subject to change (i.e. there might be more).
> 
> **Let me know if you think the writing is getting sub-par. I have just discovered it has been a month (plus a few days) since I started writing, and to date I have written more than 60k words (You can do the math to figure out how much backlog for _And I walk onto the big-screen with you_ I have not published) so I am a bit wary I am overdoing it. I am taking the day (and maybe tomorrow) off of writing after I publish this.
> 
> Please comment :)
> 
> HMU at davenziabend.tumblr.com


	5. I am...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only way I do this fic is publishing it fresh off the press, it seems.  
> Also note that I am on my allergies meds while I wrote much of this so things *might* not make sense.

**5 March 2021**

_Freitag 21:14_

The theater cast are having a party in someone’s flat after the day’s rehearsals are over. They do this from time to time, first it was for the cast members to familiarise themselves with one another, given there are some people new casted to play from the open casting that David did, then it sort of became a habit for them to throw parties whenever they have rehearsals on Friday evenings, so they do not have to worry about waking up hungover the next morning.

Leonie has been walking around the makeshift dancefloor, talking to people that are milling around, be it that they are on cast, or maybe that they are brought along by someone who is on cast. She likes making conversation with people, particularly given the fact there is not much else that could occupy her time right here, right now. Then she sees David here as well.

David seldomly shows up to these parties, usually finding excuses about his film projects or essays or any other reasons to get out of it. Tonight though, he is here, sitting on the couch off to the side, observing the crowd that is dancing in the living room of whoever this poor person is that has to clean up tomorrow.

Leonie gets out of the conversation with one of the backstage crew that she has been locked in for the past five minutes when someone drags the guy away towards the dance floor. She just smiles at the scene and heads to the kitchen to grab another piece of pizza.

She sees that David has somehow managed to be left alone, so she makes her way over to the couch and plops down next to him. David turns over with a hint of a frown, but it dissipates when he realises it is Leonie who is next to him.

“What’s up?” Leonie inquires.

“Trying not to be bothered by people talking bullshit.”

“Am I bothering you then?”

David just rolls his eyes. “Would I say that if you are?”

Leonie just raises her beer bottle at David, who clinks bottles with her. Leonie thinks somehow, David has accepted her as a friend. While he is generally friendly towards the people on cast, it is different to spending time with them or talking about non-theatre related stuff, which is what Leonie and David do, eventually getting to this point after it was just Leonie trying to make conversation with David. Things changed incrementally, and Leonie thinks the turning point is when David said she is _straightforward and real_ , that David starts to be more himself around Leonie, though still obviously still holding back something. Not that Leonie is inclined to pry, they have a good balance.

They have been chatting about some nonsense in uni over beer, talking about assignments and exams and the people they have to put up with. Leonie has just taken another swig of the bottle when she sees it. Or them. People that she might have been consciously avoiding finding them among the crowd all night.

Sara is dancing with Mario on the dancefloor, Sara’s hands on his shoulders, while Mario’s hands are rested around her hips. They are dancing close together, as if they are just by themselves and not surrounded by dozens of people on a crowded dancefloor. There is a lump in Leonie’s throat.

She stares for a few moments before she forces herself to look away. When she looks over to David, she sees him seemingly looking in the same direction, but he said nothing about it. Leonie suspects David knows something about it, and she is glad that he is not saying anything about it if it is really the case.

“Why don’t you go out there? Everyone seems like having fun.” David asks.

“Well why aren’t you out there then?” Leonie retorts.

David rolls his eyes but smile tugs at his lips. “Touché.”

Leonie stands up, holding up the beer bottle. “Want another one?”

David nods in affirmation, as Leonie sets off for the kitchen once again.

She returns, with two beers in hand, offering one to David, who is currently locked in another (probably unwanted) conversation with someone stood next to him.

“…like how do you manage to do it? The films are like on another level.”

Yeah, definitely another unwanted conversation.

“Am I interrupting something?” Leonie plops back down next to David.

The guy seems to want to say something, but David beats him to it. Leonie does not even recognise this person, probably someone brought along by the cast members.

“No, thanks for the beer though, took you long enough.” David says while turning away from the guy, clinking beer bottles with Leonie again, all but blanking the guy, who just stalks away, having been all but ignored.

Leonie looks over David’s shoulder at the retreating form of the guy, trying and failing to hold in an amused chuckle.

David joins in with the chuckling.

“That was bad.” Leonie comments.

“I don’t even know who that was.”

Leonie just gestures vaguely. _Oh well._

They continue sitting and drinking from the bottle, chatting and from their perch, commenting on the things that are unfolding in front of them on the makeshift dancefloor and around them, while deftly avoiding talking about Sara and Mario at all. Not that Leonie is thinking about that at all.

David pulls out his phone while he is talking to Leonie about the band his sister has started recently, but suddenly stopping and falling silent while he looks at whatever is showing up on his screen.

He stays silent and motionless for an inordinate amount of time, while Leonie stays seated next to him, observing with growing worry as seconds tick into minutes.

When David finally looks up from his phone, Leonie can see reflection from David’s eyes. _Tears._

David abruptly stands up and starts to push his way through the crowd towards the door, without so much as saying a word at all.

Leonie stands up to follow, her eyes drifting to search for Sara. Leonie always takes care of Sara when she is at parties, or at least that was the norm until recently. She sees Sara now sat at the opposite side of the room chatting with Mario. Sara does not need Leonie. She starts moving through the crowd, rushing after David, stopping by the pile of coats to find hers. She grabs David’s too, when she realises that David had not even taken his coat when he made it out of the door.

She sees David’s back when she makes it onto the street, though in a distance, and the fact that David, while not _running_ , is walking at a quick pace, and Leonie tries her best to keep up.

Eventually David makes his way inside a park, sitting down on a park bench, breathing heavily.

When Leonie catches up, gasping for air given how hard she tried to keep up with David, she sees tracks of tears down David’s cheeks. She moves closer, wrapping David’s coat around his shoulders to shield him from the cold air of the early March night.

“Do you want me to leave you alone?”

David stays motionless, staring into the distance.

Leonie does not want to leave David alone in this state. She sits down next to David, leaving some space for him.

They sat in silence for a long time. Leonie can see the flats turning off their lights. She looks at her watch, it’s nearly midnight.

She hears David take a sharp breath next to her, she looks over.

David’s voice is quiet, and rough. Slightly shaky. He’s still staring off into the distance. “I’m – I’m…”

“I’m transgender.”

Leonie is floored. Not that David being trans is an issue, it is just that never in a million years would Leonie expect David to open himself up to her like this. David who is always so cool and calculated around people, who still obviously holds back despite making an effort to be friendly with Leonie. Leonie can tell that it is not easy for David to come out, and she is still none the wiser about what prompted David to lose his cool and start _crying_ , or to abruptly come out to Leonie.

She knows one thing though.

She pulls David into a hug. “Oh, David.”

David holds onto Leonie hard, resting his head against Leonie’s shoulder. She thinks that particular shoulder is getting wet.

“Everything’s okay.” She soothes David.

Eventually, when David got his breathing back under control and pulls back.

“Sorry, I – ”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about, David.” She looks him in the eye. “Okay?”

He nods.

“Are you going home?”

He nods again.

“I’ll walk you.” She says with a finality that leaves no room for David to protest.

They walk side by side in silence. David still looks ruffled, but nonetheless calmer than he has been at any point since he all but ran away from the party, after reading something on his phone.

Eventually, they make it to an old building, Leonie following him up the stairs, just to make sure David makes it all the way home safely. David does not pull out his keys to unlock the door, he just knocks.

The door swings open, after a few moments, as a girl that is several years older than both of them, with long curly black hair appears at the door. She looks at David.

“Hey, why don’t you – ” she trails off when she sees David’s red puffy eyes.

David just wordlessly slips past her into the flat.

“Laura, David’s sister.” The girl says.

“Leonie.” She introduces herself.

“What happened?” She asks, lowering her voice, presumably to try to not let David hear the conversation.

“I don’t know, to be honest. We were at the party, and he pulled out his phone looking at something. Next thing I know he is running.”

“Oh.” Laura seems to know something Leonie does not, which is totally normal given she is his sister. “Thanks for bringing him back.”

“No worries, really.”

“Be safe on your way back.”

“I will.”

By the time Leonie got home it was past 1 am.

She falls face first into her bed and falls asleep.

* * *

**8 March 2021**

_Montag 17:14_

_David @ Caesar_  
“Hi everyone, no rehearsal for today. Something came up and I can’t be here.” – 14:51

David sent a message to the theatre group chat earlier in the afternoon, canceling rehearsal for the day. While he did not elaborate what happened, Leonie cannot help but be worried about David. She has a nagging suspicion it has to something that went down on Friday.

Right now though, she is sat in the war room working on her assignments, just in case if someone who does not check their phone swings by the theatre building nonetheless and finds no one here, so that she can direct the lost souls back on their way instead of sitting around like idiots waiting for nothing to happen.

She has already sent two lost souls on their way when the door to the office opens once again, she sighs, looking up. _Seriously, what’s the point of messaging if people are not going to read them anyway?_

Except for the fact that, this person walking in definitely should have read the message.

Sara sits down opposite Leonie. It is a bit weird actually, if you ask Leonie, given how little of Sara has Leonie seen recently.

“Hey, na?”

“What are you doing here?” Leonie might be a bit harsh, but if Sara heard it, she made no mention of it. To be fair, she most likely did not even notice.

“Got nothing to do with no rehearsal.”

“Okay?”

“Do you know what’s up with David?”

“I’m as clueless as you.” Leonie lies.

“Hm, okay.” Sara says as she pulls out her laptop to start working on something.

Leonie lets her. It is almost weird, how out of nowhere they are seemingly back to how they roll pre-Mario, just the two of them hanging out, working on things, occasionally talking about mundane things that come to mind.

Although this is very much not the case.

They were talking about a new dress Sara saw in the city center earlier in the week, an hour into their spontaneous hang out, when the door to the office swings open again. Leonie is almost blindsided by how someone would still be confused by a rehearsal cancellation more than an hour after the scheduled start time.

Then she sees who it is that comes into the room. She wants to yell in frustration.

Of course it is Mario Schneider.

“Fancy seeing you here!” Mario greets Sara.

“Oh, hi Mario!” She greets back, as they pull into a quick hug.

At least they are not going to make out in front of her. Leonie does not know if she would have been able to take that.

“Hey Leonie.”

“Hey.” She greets back emotionlessly, staring hard at her laptop screen, busying herself with supposedly finishing.

“Are you busy with something?” Mario asks Sara.

“Not really, I was just working on my paper.”

“What about coffee at _Mugs_?”

“That’s not a bad idea, actually.” Sara says as she closes her laptop, starting to put it into her bag.

“I have the best ideas.”

“Leonie, you coming with?” Sara asks.

“No, I am going to finish my paper.” Leonie replies, still looking at her screen and not the two people in front of her.

“Okay, let’s go.” Sara says to Mario.

Then the door closes behind them, and Leonie is greeted with silence.

She finishes another page, sighs and closes her laptop, resting her head on one of her palms. _This is her reality now._

* * *

_Montag 18:20_

_Leonie_  
“Are you okay?” – 18:03

 _David_  
“Yes.” – 18:04

 _Leonie_  
“Do you want to come to dinner with me?” – 18:06  
(Shared Location) – 18:06

 _David_  
“Sure.” – 18:09

Leonie deliberately chose a place close to David’s, so he does not need to go far if he happens to want to have dinner with her, which explains why he is already in front of her just 10 minutes after agreeing to come. She pulls him into a hug in greeting.

“Hi.”

“Are you okay?” Leonie inquires.

“Better than before.”

They walk into the Middle-Eastern food place and sit in the corner, where no one could overhear their conversation.

“Thank you for Friday by the way.”

“It’s what friends are for, don’t thank me.”

The corner of David’s mouth lifts. “Is it what we are? Friends?”

Leonie just rolls her eyes. “Duh.”

They choose their meals and Leonie goes to the counter to make the order.

“I won’t tell anyone” She says when she slips back into her seat.

David just smiles a tiny smile at that, seemingly unwilling to engage in that conversation just yet. Leonie pulls him into talking about other things.

“How is your sister’s band coming along?”

“She’s still trying to get me to join her. I sing like a dying baby elephant.” David says with a wry smile.

Leonie laughs, that is quite a mental image.

“I’m sure you’re lying.”

“You can’t prove it.” David raises his eyebrows at her.

“She’s talking to a girl about coming on though, heard she is a multi-instrumentalist.”

“That’s quite cool.”

Their conversation continues livelily while they enjoy their meals.

Leonie hugs David again when they part, who accepts it willingly.

“I will come tomorrow.”

* * *

**9 March 2021**

_Dienstag 08:43_

David was already in the war room when Leonie enters. It is sort of part of their ritual now, though it happens irregularly, that they would have breakfast together in this very room.

David has been explaining to Leonie what he meant when he said “straightforward and real” a while back when Sara entered the room.

“Hey.” David greets as Sara plops down next to Leonie.

“Hey! You good to go today?”

“Yeah, something came up yesterday.”

“By the way, it is confirmed that the first day of performance will be on the second.” Leonie informs both of them, looking at her phone, reading out from the latest email she received.

“So a bit less than four weeks. That’s enough time.” Sara comments.

“Yeah, I think everyone’s doing quite well. I quite like the chemistry between the leads at the moment.” David says, taking a glance at Leonie when he mentions chemistry.

“Me too.” Sara smiles when she replies.

* * *

_Dienstag 18:42_

Leonie has taken to hiding herself exclusively backstage today, making sure things are working properly. She is now barking orders at the crew to get them to work properly on the scene transition that they kept screwing up, while the acting cast are taking a short break.

“No, you guys need to have some awareness about where things are on stage, you can’t keep getting into one another’s way.” Leonie says, looking at the crew, where they once again smacked into each other hauling around the scene settings.

“How are things going, General Richter?” David asks, appearing next to her.

“General – what?”

“You’re like an army general right now, cranky and barking orders.” David comments.

Leonie just laughs, the tension she has been feeling leaving her body a little.

“You’re terrible.” Leonie complains.

“Well thank you, I was trying to compliment you for being good at your job.” David deadpans.

“Oh shut up.” She turns away while David barks out a laugh walking away. Nearly everyone on crew turns to look at what has just happened.

_Did David Schreibner just laugh?_

Leonie sees Sara shooting her a look, Leonie just shrugs at her, because really, David is just enjoying himself, what’s wrong with that?

Rehearsal soon resumed and everyone falls back into their groove, familiarising themselves with the play, the excitement about the upcoming performance starting to build, even if it is nearly a month away still.

* * *

**17 March 2021**

_Mittwoch 13:17_

It is yet another one of those Leonie and David spontaneously hanging out because they happen to come to the office at the same time sessions now. They text more now, and sometimes coordinate when they will show up so they can hang out while they do their things, though from time to time this sort of spontaneous hang out still happen, purely by chance.

David is in a good mood today, Leonie observes, given how loose he is today, cracking jokes here and there and just being a bit more of a dumbass in general, the signs of that distressed David all but pushed away. He has good reasons to be satisfied about things too, Leonie thinks, at least when it comes to theatre club. The rehearsals have been progressing really well, both frontstage and backstage, as they managed to have the first smooth start-to-end run through the evening prior, and everything went almost without a hitch. David is considering doing a dress rehearsal soon just to make sure even in performing conditions everything can turn out fine.

David is now talking about an advertising deal that he is in talks about and how he thinks his dystopia brand of his film projects (and yes, he starts talking about his films unprompted now, occasionally) can fit with the ideas he has for the advert he is going to direct. Just as he gets very engrossed in talking about it, Sara comes into the room.

* * *

Sara has never seen David talk so much and being so engrossed about whatever he is talking about before. But this is what she is witnessing, as David is talking to Leonie about something, complete with some (small) hand gestures. He stops though, as soon as he notices Sara’s presence, though Sara gathers he is still in a very good mood today. Sara is happy too, given how yesterday’s rehearsal went, and how she went to a late-night dinner date with Mario.

She likes it really, what she is having with Mario right this second, but she cannot help but feel there is just _something_ a bit wrong about the whole thing, and she cannot point her finger at it.

There is also the fact that she maybe just misses Leonie a bit, having seen her less recently, and whenever she sees her, David is more often than not also here. Not that she dislikes David, especially like now, when she sees a different David that is happy and more open.

Sara has been explaining something to David and Leonie when David interrupts.

“Wait, what do you mean? I don’t understand. I am confusion!”

Sara lets out a laugh. “Did you just quote a vine?”

David looks like he gets caught red-handed. Leonie is also very amused next to her at the turn of events, it seems.

“No?” He tries.

“Sure.” Leonie says drily at David’s attempt to deny it.

David became a walking vine library for the rest of their lunchtime hangout, while they still attempt to hold something that resembles conversation. Sara thinks it is the most she has laughed recently, and that’s a difficult feat, but she truly enjoyed it, even when she tried to act offended when David said she laughed like a dying cat.

This is the same David who acts cool and uninterested in the evening on the same day in the cast meeting, which is again replaced by smiley and dumb David when the three of them went to dinner together after the meeting, as Sara is ditched by Mario who has to catch up on his assignments for his classes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This are influences from Lukas' (David's actor) IG live on 8 Jul because that thing is gold.  
> Also in the aftermath of the live, I made [www.lukascomedicgenius.de](https://www.lukascomedicgenius.de) a reality. I really snapped lmao
> 
> * * *
> 
> This largely concludes the David arc of this story - it's all Sara arc now! (I think)
> 
> Please comment :)
> 
> HMU at davenziabend.tumblr.com


	6. The Show

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos to yon for trying to make sense of the gibberish that was the first draft I wrote while I was beyond tired - I've made more changes since so it might look different to the originally beta'd version!

**2 April 2021**

_Freitag 18:51_

Time goes by in a flash, between all the rehearsals, preparations as well as coursework, Leonie does not know how it is already the opening day of _Julius Caesar_. It felt like just yesterday when Leonie more or less threw the obnoxious guy out of the audition, noticing David being obviously mad but not speaking up about the situation.

The whole theatre crew has been hard at work, going through rehearsal after rehearsal just to ready themselves for the upcoming week’s performance, and by now they are already a well-oiled machine from frontstage to back. Leonie has seen Sara practicing the lines and scenes more times than she could remember, and she has killed it every time. Leonie can tell though that Sara is still understandably nervous about the opening night. After all, this is it, tonight is going to be the first time Sara plays a lead character for the theatre club. Leonie thinks she can see Sara’s parents in the audience when she walked around the venue for the final check for everything before the show commences.

When she pushes her way back into the hectic backstage that looks like a frantic warzone with the crew doing their final preparations, the cast checking if their makeup and costumes are in order, and the lighting and sound crew making their final checks to make sure everything works properly, she sees Sara pacing in the corner, already clad in her costume and looking absolutely fine…ready to go.

She approaches her, touching her forearm and stopping her from pacing around.

“Hey. You’re gonna do so well. You’ve killed it every time so far and you will kill it again tonight.”

She resists the urge to reach out to touch her face, partly out of fear of smudging the light make up she has on and causing an even greater frenzy. She opts for squeezing Sara’s arm in reassurance, and leaves her alone when she sees Mario approaching, going back to weather the storm that is currently ravaging the backstage.

By the time everything is more or less in order, as in order as it can be, it is only two minutes from the scheduled start time of 19:00. Leonie sees David standing at the threshold to the stage, peeking into the audience. She places her hand on his back when she stops to stand next to him.

“Ready?” She asks.

“As ready as I can be. In the end it is up to the cast on the stage.”

“You’ve worked so hard on this. It will be good.”

“I hope so.” David peeks at his watch. “Now, work your magic. I rely on you, my General.”

Leonie rolls her eyes at David, but heads backstage, rounding up all the cast members for the opening scene of Act I, jockeying everyone to the correct side of the stage for their entrance, even if she is confident that everyone knows what they should do by now. It does not hurt to be extra careful though. She sees David moving around backstage, between the two sides of the stage, catching the cast members moments before they are due on stage, giving them last instructions and words of encouragement, even coaxing a smile out of Sara, not that Leonie is paying attention.

She focuses back on navigating the whirlwind that is happening backstage, monitoring the support crew members with a watchful eye, and being ready to react to whatever surprises that may present themselves on the opening night.

* * *

_Freitag 21:40_

Leonie is not sure how, but between the constant frenzy that has been happening backstage and the tension emanating from the play on stage, they are now down to the last scene. She breathes a sigh of relief, having come out of the madness relatively unscathed throughout the night, and joins David at the threshold to the stage, observing the last scene, where Sara lies on the floor, as Mario, in the character of Antony, pays tribute to Brutus as the noblest Roman of all.

As soon as that happens, the play finishes, the lights dim, and the audience bursts into rapturous applause. The whole cast enters the stage, bowing to the applause, as David and Leonie look on. Leonie can see Sara and Mario standing together smiling wide smiles. Leonie looks away, motioning to David, who walks with her to the back entrance to the backstage area of the auditorium, honoring David’s wish to help him slip off when the play ends before the audience files out.

Just as Leonie slips back in, having seen David off, she can see the cast filing back in from the stage, excitement palpable from the successful opening night. She can see her deputy stage manager raising an eyebrow at her, presumably because they saw Leonie (and maybe David) slipping off, when Sara bounds over and pulls Leonie into a quick hug.

“That is good isn’t it?” Leonie asks as she pulls away.

“Very.” Sara is at her most cheerful for the day. She pulls another cast member into a hug, congratulating them as they walk past.

“What are your plans for the party next week?”

She pauses for a moment as the backstage area gets more and more crowded around her, and it is only now that Leonie remembers that there is a party organised for the whole crew scheduled after the closing night next Friday to celebrate. She has not even decided if she will go yet, if she were being honest.

Why is Sara even asking, when Leonie is so sure she is going to go with Mario anyway?

“Uh…I don’t know, haven’t thought about it. You’re going with Mario, I suppose?”

“Yeah. Actually, I might be a wingman for you if there is someone…”

“There is no need, really.” Leonie pats Sara’s arm and walks away, going around backstage to take stock of the state of everything, when she sees Mario approaching Sara.

Seeing Sara together with Mario is one thing. Leonie still likes Sara as a person no matter what, but having Sara like this, right there but not there and even offering to help her get someone when there is only one certain someone Leonie really likes? That’s getting to be a bit too much even for Leonie.

* * *

**3 April 2021**

_Samstag 08:48_

Leonie tries out going on a morning run. She is not unfamiliar or unprepared when it comes to exercising, considering she took Advanced P.E. when she was in high school, but she never saw the value of going outside on a morning run. She talked about this with David one day recently, and he told her that it helps clear his mind. Maybe that is what she needs right now.

She pushes herself a bit harder, rounding another corner and finally makes it home. It is not even 9 am yet. She feels a bit calmer, but a lot of things are still nagging at her in her head.

She settles down at her desk when she comes back out from the shower, feeling more refreshed having cleared herself of sweat.

 _Leonie R._  
“Do you have time?” – 09:01

 _David_  
“What’s up?” – 09:07

 _Leonie R._  
“Want to discuss something.” – 09:08

 _David_  
“Okay. Meet me at the café near my home?” – 09:08

 _Leonie R._  
“I’m on my way.” – 09:09

* * *

_Samstag 09:51_

“Hey.” Leonie slides into the seat opposite of David with her coffee in hand. She can see David has already finished a third of his tea while waiting for her, typing something on his laptop.

“What’s up? You look troubled.” David asks, smiling at her, closing his laptop.

“I want to ask for a favour from you.”

“Okay?” David says, as he takes a sip of his tea.

“I want you to fake-date me.”

David nearly spits out the tea he is drinking. He starts choking. It is a wonder he somehow managed not to leave any tea on any nearby surfaces.

“You what? Did I hear that right?” David asks with raised eyebrows, setting down his tea and pushing it away.

“You know about the party?”

“That I’m not going to go to?”

“You’re the director.” Leonie says drily.

“So why do you need that?”

Leonie stays silent at that, turning away and looking out the window.

“Is it because of Sara?”

So, yeah. David knew something was up all along.

Leonie sighs and takes a sip of the coffee. “She wants to introduce me to some guy or something.”

“And?”

“You obviously know what is going on.” She glares at him.

David considers her for a moment. “How is it going to help?”

“I don’t know, I just need to get her to stop taking an interest if she’s…if she’s…”

Leonie takes a deep breath and takes a sip from her coffee. She does not finish her sentence. David seems to want to say something about that, but he thinks better of it. He just considers her for a moment and then smirks.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I’m doing this with you.” He raises his cup of tea as a toast.

* * *

“So you will be fine with things like side hugs or like getting into each other’s space?”

“I mean, it’s not like we never hug each other.”

* * *

“You’ve chosen the best actor to do this with you.”

“I’ve never seen you act.”

“Doesn’t mean what I say isn’t true.”

* * *

“So do we just start acting to be closer, like parodying what they are doing?”

“I mean if you think it will be more convincing.”

“Well do you want it to be convincing?”

* * *

“We can even do the fake stage kiss!”

“Oh god, David.”

* * *

So, yeah. David is an even bigger dumbass than Leonie anticipated and he is more invested in this whole fake-dating thing than Leonie. It is fun though, seeing David so excited about this dumb idea that Leonie thinks maybe she should regret, but she is out of options, really.

For the next few performances, it is pretty much rinse and repeat of what happened on Friday. The show all in all goes smoothly every night, and Leonie acts as the lookout for David as he slips off every time just before the curtains come down.

Nothing really changed aside from the fact that Leonie and David act like they are closer than before when people they know are around, standing closer together and a lot of small gestures, hands staying in place for a beat longer, leaning closer than necessary to talk, for instance. They did not say anything about it. Leonie did not bring herself to see if Sara noticed though. What would she do if Sara noticed anyway?

* * *

**9 April 2021**

_Freitag 21:45_

Closing night comes around just as quick. This time David does not slip off, because they are supposed to head straight to party and maybe get collectively smashed after this. This is why when the audience actually rises into a standing ovation, David has nowhere to hide, but is dragged by the cast onto the stage to accept the applause from the audience alongside them.

David quickly ducks backstage at the first available opportunity, finding Leonie there by herself. He approaches her, it is about time to put on another show anyway.

David knows Leonie wants him to do this with her so she can get Sara off her back, and maybe get over her as well, now that Mario is in the fray. David cannot deny that he thinks there is chemistry between Sara and Mario, at least on stage and maybe off stage as well.

But there is also the fact that he thinks he can sense a weak tinge of jealousy coming from Sara when it is just the three of them hanging out, which would not make sense if Sara is dating Mario, or whatever that is happening between the two of them that distresses Leonie so much.

For whatever reason though, David thinks this is a thing he could do for Leonie, whatever will come out of it, as he is a good friend, and if Leonie thinks she needs this, then he will do his best to help.

He just hopes this does not backfire somehow.

* * *

The applause finally dies down after a long moment, as the lights dim for the final time and the curtains coming down. Mario, who has been by her side for the curtain call, squeezes her hand with a smile, letting out a silent _whew_. She smiles as well at that.

Sara cannot believe she has just closed her first play as one of the leads, and to rapturous reception no less. She is elated about this and is also looking forward to partying and drinking and maybe getting shitfaced in the process. There is more than enough justification in her opinion. She has just crossed the threshold backstage with Mario next to her when she sees Leonie talking to David. It is a bit surprising, to be honest, seeing David here, considering he consistently disappeared into thin air every night around the time the play finished.

She makes her way over with Mario, wanting to ask if Leonie is going to the party tonight. When David spots them, he _snakes an arm around Leonie_ , then whispers something into Leonie’s ear as she also turns around to look in Sara’s direction.

_What the hell just happened?_

She freezes mid-step for a split-second, then snaps back into motion, though she sees Mario raising an eyebrow at her in question, noticing that minute pause, but not thinking it is significant enough to take an interest in as he continues to walk towards the pair.

“You guys ready for the party?” Mario asks.

“Yeah, we are!” Leonie replies with a smile, as Sara notices _Leonie snaking an arm back around David_.

_What?_

“…You two?” Sara asks, looking between the two of them as if they both have grown a second head that is incidentally conjoined as well.

“Mhm. We are going together. There is no need to… you know.” Leonie says, referring to Sara’s wingman comment which had made Sara internally cringe. She does not even know why she said that in the first place.

David is smiling a bright smile at them. They look happy. But why does Sara feel something is so _off_ when she sees this? Leonie has been single for so long, Sara cannot even remember when Leonie broke up with her last boyfriend. So if Leonie is seeing someone, _hell_ , someone like David, why can’t she feel the joy she should have for her best friend?

“We ready to go? They’re ditching us.” David finally joins the conversation, nodding his head in the direction of the bulk of the crew making for the door.

All the way there, Sara tries to focus on talking to Mario, listening to him talking about psychology or something that he has been working on for his paper, though from time to time her eyes drift to Leonie and David, out of curiosity, she swears, and sees them leaned close together, whispering something into each other’s ears, as if they are in a world of their own. She pushes that into the back of her mind, turning in the direction of Mario and tries to pay full attention to him.

* * *

_Freitag 22:21_

The party may have just started not long ago, but it is already in full swing at the moment. Sara is currently stood around a table with Mario and a few other people, drinking out of a glass that Mario got for her. She feels like dancing later, maybe. It is finally a good opportunity to let loose after being so highly strung for the past week with the play constantly on her mind. Though now there is another thing that is still nagging at her annoyingly.

_David and Leonie._

_Dancing._

As far as Sara can tell from what she knows of the two of them, they are not the type to party hard, so it is extremely hard to fathom that she is indeed seeing the two of them out there doing just that. She takes another sip of her drink, as she tries to subtly keep an eye on the two of them while still engaging in conversation with Mario and the others.

Then she sees it.

Sara cannot be sure, but she is sure she can see David pulling Leonie close, and she thinks she can see him kissing Leonie on the cheek. Then the two of them are giggling about something.

She downs her drink in one go. Mario raises his eyebrows next to her.

“Getting smashed this early?”

She waves it off, pulling Mario with her onto the dance floor as far away from Leonie and David as possible. “I want to dance.”

Mario just laughs and complies.

Sara is torn between wanting to know and not wanting to see what David and Leonie are doing. She tries to convince herself there is no reason to take interest in this, but the battle is lost before she has even started fighting anyway.

From a distance, while dancing with Mario, Sara also keeps a watchful eye on the pair from time to time, trying to figure out what is up with them. Sara cannot believe she has missed this happening. At one point later in the night, the two of them just disappear from her view, not to be seen again for the rest of the night.

Sara feels like there are tight knots in her stomach.

She throws herself into partying as hard as she can for the rest of the night, dancing along to song after song and getting smashed, at one point downing half a bottle of some strong alcohol that she cannot remember the name of. Late in the night, when she cannot stand upright, Mario offers to help her home.

It feels a bit different, the shoulder she is leaning against being taller than usual, and there is a distinct lack of long hair brushing against her.

She more or less passes out as soon as she reaches home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would you leave a comment? :)
> 
> HMU at davenziabend.tumblr.com


	7. Confusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No beta - all mistakes mine.  
> Lmk if there is something wrong with this, be it writing/plot.

**10 April 2021**

_Samstag 11:39_

Sara wakes up to a pounding headache shortly before noon, still fully dressed and face planted on her bed. She wiggles on the bed and groans, the headache not subsiding any time soon.

As she wakes up more, though still with her eyes closed, the memories of the previous night start flowing back in. She has managed to close a play as a lead and not screw up at any point of the several performances they have done. Leonie’s quiet encouragement every night before she stepped on the stage. Mario squeezing her hands. David and Leonie…

David and Leonie acting close and going to the party together. David kissing Leonie on the cheek and the two of them disappearing later.

She rolls on her back and she groans.

What is up with her fixation with whatever is happening with David and Leonie?

Her phone buzzes somewhere near her head. She reaches blindly around to retrieve her phone somewhere near her head and picks it up to squint at the screen.

The latest notification is just a message from one of her groupmates for her psychology class asking about meeting up sometime next week, so they could work on the project.

She scrolls past it, making a mental note to reply later, and reads the other messages that are on her lock screen.

There are a few other messages that are of no consequence, and one from Mario.

 _Mario_  
“Morning, got you home last night. Hope your head is not hurting too bad today!” – 10:03

She trudges out of bed, in search of painkillers.

There is nothing from Leonie for the whole day. That nearly never happens. Despite the headache subsiding, she still feels generally shit for the rest of the day.

* * *

**12 April 2021**

_Montag 09:41_

In fact, there has been nothing from Leonie or David for the whole duration of the weekend.

Sara has thought about messaging them as if nothing has ever happened, (and to be fair, nothing really happened.), but she is just too confused by what is happening in her head to figure out how to feel or what to say.

By the time Monday rolls around, she is feeling better, more or less, though she is still none the wiser about what she is feeling.

She sits down at a table at _Mugs_ , a cup of coffee in hand. She sits there waiting for Mario, while scrolling on her phone idly. She finally gets around to replying to her psychology groupmate about that project.

Mario slides into the seat opposite her a few minutes later, looking a bit tired, with a cup of coffee of his own in hand.

“Hey. Feeling better?”

“Still regretting drinking myself under the table.”

Mario chuckles silently, while taking a sip from his cup.

“What?” She asks, while mirroring the motion.

Mario looks like he is thinking of something, though he dismisses it quickly. “Nothing. Monday blues, the usual, eh?”

“Yeah. Always hate Mondays.” She raises her cup in a toast.

They fall into quiet conversation, while trying to wake themselves up so they could maybe actually pay attention in lecture later. Sara likes this calm atmosphere between them.

As they stand to leave the café together though, Sara sees something as she turns around to pick up her coat lying in the seat next to her.

David is sat in the corner of the café…with Leonie, who is sat with her back turned towards her. They seem to be deep in conversation about something, complete with hand gestures and everything, like they are in a bubble of their own. David catches her looking, seemingly realising Sara is here right at this moment, and waves at her. She quickly waves back, before making a beeline for the door, before she can see Leonie, or let Leonie see her.

She is not even sure why she is so awkward around Leonie suddenly, when nothing of substance really happened, aside from the fact Leonie seems to be dating David, just like Sara is dating Mario.

A sudden realisation hits her. She misses Leonie. She cannot even remember when the last time was just the two of them hanging out together properly. Between Sara seeing Mario and now Leonie seeing David, there seems to be no more space for that, seemingly. There is always someone else, or something else.

She pushes all of these out of her mind as she focuses on what Mario is saying to her, continuing their previous conversation, as he catches up with her.

“Do you really think we are running late?” He asks as he catches up.

“Maybe. Better walk faster!”

* * *

**13 April 2021**

_Dienstag 14:04_

This place evokes quite a few memories to Sara, if she were being honest. How many parties have she participated in have taken place here, and also how she used to hang out here from time to time, when Matteo used to date her. How it was the place of one of their abortive attempts in bed…

She settles down in the kitchen of the WG, while Matteo is cooking up something for lunch.

How common is it for you to stay friends with an ex? Sara imagines it is not that often, but then again Matteo is not your usual ex either. That’s beside the point anyway, as Sara checks in with Matteo from time to time, just to make sure he is feeling okay, like all his other friends do. If Matteo feels like cooking like he is right now, then that is a nice plus.

“How’re things?” Matteo asks. That’s the first thing he’s said aside from the greetings they have exchanged since Sara came to the WG a few minutes ago.

“Quite good. I played for theatre last week. Uni is the same old.”

“Hm. That seems quite good.” Matteo says absentmindedly as he starts plating the pasta he is cooking. Sara thinks she can recognise it is Matteo’s signature Pasta a la Luigi he tends to feed people with.

“Hmph.” He lets out as he sits down opposite her. “Why didn’t you invite me?”

“I did text you about it. I just know you aren’t interested in this sort of things.”

Matteo pauses to think. “Fair.” He says, as he starts to dig into the pasta.

Sara eats a mouthful of pasta, it is as good as ever. Matteo can cook professionally if he really wants to, in her opinion. She is also mildly, though not genuinely, envious of whoever have the chance to enjoy Matteo’s cooking regularly. You have to be a guy to be eligible for that though.

“How have you been doing recently?”

Matteo keeps chewing for a while, like he is considering the question and choosing the right words to answer with.

“Good. Better.” He smiles secretly to himself. “Everything seems to be quite smooth right now.”

“Any boys though?” Sara asks jokingly. She has heard about how Matteo seems generally uninterested when it comes to relationships, mostly from Matteo himself, bitching about how his friends keep trying to set him up with someone.

“Oh god, not this again.” Matteo moans, that is enough of an answer. A resounding no.

They keep eating, catching up with each other, talking about how their respective friends are doing in life, about Matteo’s relationship with weed, about cooking, about university, about Sara’s experience with theatre and a lot more.

“How’s Leonie?” Matteo asks abruptly, at one point, just as he takes the plates to the sink to wash them up. Sara offered to help, but Matteo is adamant that he can wash the dishes just fine.

Sara is caught off guard by this random questioning. “What about Leonie?” she asks, slightly defensively. What is she even defensive about?

“I don’t know, aren’t you best friends? And last I checked she still hates me.”

Some cogs in Sara’s brain is turning, though she focuses on the conversation. “She’s fine I think, and I told you she doesn’t hate you. I don’t hate you.”

“Hm, okay.” He says, while toweling off the plates, though Sara knows he is not convinced at all.

He sits back at the table, as they keep talking about something else, until Sara has to go later in the afternoon so she could meet up with her groupmate to work on the project.

However, Sara’s mind is preoccupied by the one thing. Leonie. Best friends. That is what they have always been, hasn’t it? But if they are best friends, why would Sara miss Leonie so much even when they have seen each other regularly before this week; and why would Sara feel knots forming in her stomach when she sees Leonie dating someone?

Is Sara jealous?

* * *

**14 April 2021**

_Mittwoch 13:14_

What Sara finds out, is that despite the play being recently over, Leonie and David still hang out at the office for theatre club in the theatre building. It is not like she actively tried to find out about what they are up to, but that Sara thinks she has left one of her notebooks at the office during one of her performance nights, and she heads there in search of said item.

She just barrels into the office, with the bagel that she has bought from the café in hand, fully intending to have a quick search and head somewhere else to consume her lunch and maybe work on some of the papers for her courses.

What she sees though, is Leonie and David sat perpendicular to each other at the long table in the office, eating lunch together. They look surprised to see Sara entering the room, though they schooled their faces into calm very quickly, as Sara pauses at the door. It is as if Sara is intruding.

“Hey.” David greets lightly.

“Hey…uh, I’m looking for a grey notebook…I think I have left it here.” She says carefully, as she takes a few steps into the office.

David seems to remember something when she says that, standing up and walking over to the cabinets near the back of the office, and coming back with Sara’s notebook in hand.

He eyes Sara’s bagel as he walks back closer though, and instead of handing the notebook over immediately, he asks. “You having lunch with someone?”

Sara is, in fact, not having lunch with anyone, as Mario seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth suddenly, texting Sara yesterday that he is a bit busy with his coursework at the moment, although given the fact he shares like half of the courses with Sara, she is not sure what he is exactly busy about. She assumes the workload for his other courses are somehow crazily high. It is not impossible, but who knows.

Either way, she does not have anyone to have lunch with, though she is not exactly sure if she should be intruding on whatever David and Leonie are doing.

“No, I don’t.” She replies honestly, though is quick to add, “I can find somewhere to be though.”

She can see Leonie frowning at that, and she is sure David sees it too, as he asks, “we are just having lunch and hanging out anyway, why don’t you join us?”

Sara knows she would look weird if she refuses, so she just sits down opposite Leonie, sighing internally. _What has she just found herself in?_

It is really just as advertised, the three of them hanging out together, chatting about everything, like their weekends, about things on the play they have just finished, their respective courses, and also David obsessing about the advertising deal he talked about the other time they hanged out together.

Sara cannot help trying to read into every little interaction that happens between Leonie and David though, those light touches of hands and looks they exchange from time to time, raise of eyebrows and everything else like they are communicating without words.

_Those are things Leonie once shared with Sara._

She can see from the corner of her eye that it is nearly 14:30, when she sees Leonie leaning over and whisper something in David’s ear, complete with a dip that could be a kiss (though Sara cannot be sure). David chuckles lightly at whatever is said, turning over and raising his eyebrows at Leonie, and that is the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

Sara shoots up abruptly, grabbing her bag blindly and makes for the door.

“I’ve gotta go.” She rushes out of her mouth and then she is in the corridor, rapidly making for the exit of the building.

Sara is jealous. Majorly. David has just swept in and taken away everything Sara has shared with Leonie for so long. And she stops dead in her tracks.

Why is this making Sara feel so bad and sad?

She can feel her vision blurring slightly, though she manages to blink whatever that is away. (It is tears.)

She also belatedly realises, she has not taken with her the notebook that was the whole reason why she was in that _god damned_ office in the first place.

Fuck, Adamczyk, what the fuck is this bullshit?

* * *

_Mittwoch 14:32_

There is a stunned silence in the war room, since Sara more or less made a run for it a few minutes ago, leaving behind her grey notebook in her wake.

Leonie is more or less frozen in place, staring at the door, shell shocked.

David’s brain is working overtime, trying to figure out what the hell is happening in this situation, where this has gone wrong and why did Sara suddenly ran from them. Despite the fake dating bullshit they are doing, they have been keeping it quite lowkey and subtle, just enough to be convincing that there is _something_ , but not enough to be rubbing in anyone’s face for it to be sickening.

Just before that has happened, Leonie has just leaned over to whisper into his ear.

“She has been staring. I don’t know what to think about it.” Then she ducked her head a bit in defeat, saying even more quietly, “She is definitely not making it easy for me.”

David has just looked over and raised his eyebrows, then Sara has ran out of the room as if she is running away from bank robbers or something.

This is nauseatingly confusing, unless it means David’s suspicions are right.

“Wh…what just…happened?” Leonie whispers.

“I don’t know.” David sighs.

“Why would she run when she thought I should be getting a boyfriend or something?” There is a slight hint of venom when Leonie says ‘boyfriend’.

David sighs even more heavily. Maybe he should be honest about what he thinks.

“I have a suspicion.”

Leonie stares at him.

“She might be jealous.”

“Schreibner,” and fuck, Leonie is using that stage manager voice at him, addressing him with his last name no less, which has never happened.

“What the fuck do you mean.” Leonie grunts.

David raises his hands in surrender. “I’m not trying to get your hopes up or anything.” He offers.

Leonie just sits there and stares at the wall some more.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you.” Leonie whispers, after half an hour has passed. David has skipped his environment class to stay here. He thinks this is more important than saving the trees or whatever they are going to talk about in that class.

“Don’t be.” David opens his arms. If nothing else he can offer comfort to Leonie, like she has done for him before.

David really hopes his meddling is not backfiring majorly.

* * *

**16 April 2021**

_Freitag 10:03_

Sara has not returned to the theatre club office since the incident. The notebook can go fuck itself for being still there, honestly.

Her mind has been spiraling and fully occupied by thoughts about what she has seen of David and Leonie over the past week.

A lot of things fall into place.

How they always used to incessantly hang out with each other, enjoying each other’s company. How Leonie has always been a good _friend_ and supportive of Sara no matter what is happening. Their _friendly_ lingering touches and stares, their ability to communicate nonverbally. How everything seem like they would make sense as long as they deal with it together.

How and why there has been a feeling of wrong, being with Mario. If she were being honest, they are not exactly dating, though for intents and purposes, they are. Mario took up the place of Leonie, hanging out with Sara in Leonie’s stead. Dinner together with Leonie replaced by dates with Mario. Time together with Leonie chipped away bit by bit by time together with Mario. He has been nothing but good to Sara. Careful and gentle, charming, nice, genuinely interested in how Sara feels and what she thinks.

But he is not Leonie. The familiarity, the understanding, the certainty. The unwavering support. The smaller posture. That long hair. Those eyes. The everything.

And now David has swooped in and taken it all away.

How can Sara blame anyone? Really. Leonie has been there all along, and she somehow has been so blind that she could not see what she really wanted. She has blown her chance.

Sara has been in love with Leonie all along and she did not even realise that.

She stares at her phone again, remembering that she is not in the confines of her home, but in a café. Mario wanted to talk. She ended up being here nearly half an hour before their agreed time to meet.

Mario ends up arriving a bit early though, as he slides into the seat opposite her after a few more minutes of her staring at the phone. He has not even got coffee.

“Hey.” He greets, a bit uncertain.

_What the hell is going on now?_

“Hey?” Her greeting coming out like a question.

Mario stays silent for a while, like he is searching for the right words.

“You are a nice girl, Sara.” Mario starts.

“Okay?” Sara’s blood is running cold.

“I’ve seen you.”

_Wait, what?_

“I’m not sure I follow.”

He takes a breath. “You remember me walking you home after the party last week?”

_That’s a change in topic?_

“I don’t. I just know because you texted me the following morning.”

“You were mumbling something about Leonie all the way home.”

There is a horrible realisation for Sara. Her blood drains from her face.

“I…what?”

“And I can see you staring at her a lot. Since when all of us think she is seeing David or something.”

There is a stab to the gut. Leonie is seeing David.

She gawks at that.

How can everything be so fucked up?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love to hear from you about this fic!
> 
> Please comment :)
> 
> HMU at davenziabend.tumblr.com


	8. Open My Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No beta - all mistakes mine.

**16 April 2021**

_Freitag 18:04_

Sara skipped her first class for the day and could not really focus for the rest of her classes, sitting there physically, but definitely not with the rest of the class there mentally. By the time the last class lets out, Sara stumbles out of the lecture hall with her mind at an even messier place and an even more frenzied state than when she started her day.

It is lost on her how she has been in love with Leonie all along but somehow passed up on the chance, if there has ever been a chance, when she has been there for years.

She has to talk to Leonie.

While walking out of the academic, she texts Leonie out of impulse, before she can regret her decisions.

 _Sara_  
“We need to talk.” – 18:07

The reply comes as soon as she has sent the message.

 _Leonie_  
“Okay.” – 18:07  
“Now? I’m in the theatre building.” – 18:07

_Fucking theatre building._

_Sara_  
“I’m coming.” – 18:08

She more or less walks like a guided missile that goes straight from where she is currently standing to the entrance of the theatre building. 

She pushes the door to the office open and comes face to face with David. Her face darkens, while David steps out of the way, raising his hands in front of his chest.

_Leonie is seeing David._

David slips out of the gap between Sara and the door. Leonie looking out of the window.

She sets her bag down on a chair at the table, then leans against the table.

Leonie turns around and stares at her. After a beat. “Hey.”

Sara walks a few steps, closing the distance between the two of them.

“What’s up?” Leonie asks, when Sara does not say anything, trying for nonchalance but there is something else seeping through.

“Why are you dating David?” She asks. It comes out harsh.

Leonie visibly recoils at that. Sara’s stomach drops.

“Why can’t I date him?” Leonie asks defensively. “I thought you think I should stop being single?” She bites out the last word harshly.

“Because…because…” Sara closes the distance between them. Leonie seems to pick up on what she is doing, or that she is really uncomfortable with how close they are getting, and her hands come up to stop Sara. Despite her smaller posture, Leonie is strong.

“Sara.” Leonie is staring at her face, though her voice is still very much harsh, _warning_.

Sara just freezes there.

“Aren’t you dating Mario?” Leonie asked in such a _pained_ voice, still trying to push her further away, Sara complies easily. She wants to laugh at how absurd this situation is. Mario knows Sara loves Leonie before she realised herself, and Leonie thinks Sara is still with Mario. There is really no winning, is there?

“No.”

“No?”

“The one I love is you, Richter!” Sara yells, out of frustration. She is taken aback by her own outburst and starts to pull away in panic.

Just as she is pulling out of reach, Leonie grabs her hand and keeps her in place. “You what?” She whispers.

“I realised I have been in love with you all along.” Sara whispers, defeatedly, and tries to pull away again. “It doesn’t matter anyway. You’re good with David.”

She is focusing on trying to not let herself tear up when there is a pair of lips covering her own, Leonie crowding her space, leaning up and kissing her _fiercely_.

She starts kissing back for a moment before she pulls away abruptly.

“No. David.” She whispers to Leonie when she looks at her questioningly.

“I’m not dating David.” Leonie mutters as she leans up to kiss Sara again.

That makes no sense to Sara, but she lets herself be pulled flush against Leonie as the two of them made out intensely. Like they should have been doing for years. They are just making up on the lost time now.

Eventually they break apart for air. Sara rests her forehead on top of Leonie’s, smiling down at her. Leonie returns a soft smile at that.

She presses a kiss into Leonie’s hair, as Leonie pulls her down with her, the two of them sitting up against the wall by the window, side by side.

“You know…you’ve kissed my hair on New Year’s Eve.” Leonie speaks quietly.

Sara can only remember getting royally smashed at the party that night. She really needs to stop drinking so much.

“I know you don’t remember.”

“I didn’t realise I have been in love with you all along…maybe subconsciously I knew, but I just never realised.”

“What changed?”

“David. Then Mario more or less telling me the one I love is not him.”

Leonie laughs humourlessly. “I got David to fake-date me so I could get you off my back.”

Sara is once again reeled back to that comment she made. “I don’t know why I’ve said that. I mean it’s obvious some of the people on cast likes you but…” she trails off.

“It’s okay. You are the only person I like.”

“This sounds so cheesy.” Sara says.

“I’m being serious. I don’t know…how long have that been.”

“Before Matteo?”

“Before Matteo.”

Sara sighs. “I only realised when I saw you with David. That it was you all along. That I liked how it was between us, and I was just so used to it I thought that was the normal between us.”

Leonie grips Sara’s hand in her own.

“We are being idiots.”

“Yeah we are. We could have had this so much earlier.” Sara whispers, as she uses her other hand to turn Leonie’s head, pulling her into another kiss.

Leonie’s phone buzzed a few times, as they traded kisses, getting more and more heated in the process. Though one last buzz from the phone makes Sara pull away and groan. “Who’s that? They’re annoying.”

Leonie feels around for her phone, picking up and mutters. “He _is_ annoying.”

She unlocks and tries to type out a response, though Sara is pulling her back in for another kiss. “Can’t you turn it off and ignore it?”

Leonie finishes typing out the response and complies, turning off the phone, and resumes their make out session.

Sara greedily explores Leonie’s mouth, swallowing all the sounds both of them are making while they make out, as their hands wander around each other’s body. Sara’s hand dipping under Leonie’s shirt, feeling the skin on her back. Leonie’s breath hitches.

Just as this moment, the door to the office swings open, and a head pokes in. The two of them jump apart as well as they can, given the fact they are seated on the floor.

“David Schreibner!” Leonie screams at the door. “Fuck off!”

David laughs. “Oops, sorry!” He says as he scurries away, sounding not sorry at all, and the door slams shut behind him.

Sara’s phone buzzes.

 _David_  
“Sorry! Didn’t check my messages! Have fun!” – 19:03

She shows her phone to Leonie, who mutters _fucking idiot_ under her breath. Her stomach growls at the same time.

“Should we go get food? It’s already 19:00.” Sara asks.

“Are you asking me out on a date?” Leonie raises an eyebrow at her.

“Will you say no if I say it is a date?”

“Let’s go.” Leonie stands up, offering a hand to Sara.

They go to the Thai place they frequent for dinner. Things are really like as they have been before, before his whole fiasco, the two of them enjoying each other’s company, eating out of each other’s plates, talking about everything and nothing. There is now just even more touching of hands, their ankles hooked together under the table, and the both of them know that they are on the same page with each other about what they have.

They walk hand in hand on their way back home. When they reach the junction where they normally part ways, Sara pulls Leonie towards her, pressing a kiss to her hair, then to her lips, intending to bid her good night. However, Leonie does not let go, and instead pulls Sara with her in the direction of her home.

There is no one at home at Leonie’s. The two of them just fall asleep in each other’s arms soon after getting home. Sara has one of her best night’s sleep, with the girl of her affections lying in her arms.

* * *

**17 April 2021**

_Samstag 10:03_

Both of them are awake, though still in bed and wrapped in each other’s arms. Leonie is laid half on top of Sara, with her face in the crook of Sara’s neck. Sara is playing with Leonie’s hair in her fingers, the other arm keeping Leonie in place.

“I’ve wanted this for so long.” Leonie whispers.

“I’ve realised this is what I wanted all along.”

“I think…since I broke up in Year 10…” Leonie pulls her face out, lying on Sara’s shoulder instead. She has never talked about this. “It has always been the two of us, mainly.”

Sara’s arm starts to roam around on Leonie’s back. “There was Matteo.” She said with a chuckle.

“There was Matteo.” Leonie agrees with a wry smile. “Look how long that lasted.”

Sara rolls her eyes. “Not my fault!” She is keen to point out.

“But yeah. It has been always us all along…” Sara trails off.

“Then there’s Mario.”

“I just…I have always felt there’s something not quite right with Mario…but then I saw you doing things that used to be us with David…”

“That was stupid of me.”

“No it’s not.” Sara protests. “Look where that got us.” She pulls Leonie closer.

“I was so sad seeing you with Mario, to be honest. And I thought maybe if you thought David’s dating me you’ll not be so interested in how I’m doing relationship wise and maybe I could finally get over you…”

“I can’t believe I’ve put you through this twice.”

Leonie presses a kiss to Sara’s cheek. “Hey. As you said – look where that got us.”

In one swift motion, Sara pushes Leonie off her and when Leonie can blink at what has happened, Sara is hovering above her. “Where are we going then?” She asks.

“Nowhere.” Leonie smirks up at Sara and pulls her down by her neck.

* * *

**19 April 2021**

_Montag 09:27_

The two of them just stayed in the bubble of just Leonie and Sara over the weekend, the two having fun together going to different places around the city, like they have done so many times before, except now that they do that hand-in-hand.

Sara is dragged by Leonie back to _Mugs_ , because apparently David _really_ wants to meet them for breakfast.

Sure enough, when they enter, David is already sat in the corner of the café, looking as inconspicuous as possible, as he usually does. The two of them ignores him for the moment and get their drinks ordered. As soon as the two of them enter his line of sight with their coffee in hand, he greets them with the widest grin Sara has ever seen on his face.

“Hi!” David says dramatically, extremely chipper.

Leonie just raises her middle finger at David, while the two of them sit down side by side opposite David.

“Good to see you being so cheerful too, Leonie.”

Leonie just takes a sip from her coffee while Sara looks at her fondly.

“When’s the wedding?” David asks.

“Oh come on!” Sara groans, hiding her face in her hands. David just laughs at that.

“Anyway, it’s good to see you two finally sorted out everything.”

“I didn’t have you down as a meddling dumbass, honestly.” Sara comments.

David pulls on a face of incredulity. “That is a wild accusation!”

“He totally is one.” Leonie mutters next to her.

The three of them fall into conversation over coffee and bagels, just like before, except for the fact that Sara no longer feels that weird feeling, jealousy, with David here with them, because now she can claim Leonie as her girlfriend, and there is no one who can get between the two of them. They have been in love all along. David is a nice person and she like him, _hell_ , she even owes him one for being a meddling dumbass and making Sara open her eyes to see who she loves after all.

* * *

**_Epilogue_ **

Later in the month, David reveals to Leonie and Sara that he is staying on with the theatre club because of the successes of _Julius Caesar_ , and how much the standing of the club has recovered from the _Stefan disaster_. (David swears that this Stefan guy looks at him weird whenever they show up in the environmental science class together. David never talked to him.)

The theatre club manages to stage more plays than before, now that they have more than one director at any point in time, though it is still David’s plays that draw the biggest crowds. The name recognition of David Schreibner only grows not only on campus, but also outside, as his following continues to grow. He later gets an offer to direct for a small theatre project in Berlin, which was a resounding success as well that gained coverage by some local papers on the back pages.

Sara is still friends with Mario, they still go to class together and perform in some of the plays together, for instance. Whenever both Sara and Mario are casted to play for David's play, the four of them do have meals together from time to time and hang out quite a bit. That happens rarer and rarer as time goes on though, as it turns out Mario is really struggling with some of his courses, and he passes up several production, not only David's, to spend more time on his academic progress.

Leonie is now David’s preferred stage manager, so whenever there is a play at the theatre club that is directed by David, he works with no stage managers other than Leonie. He likes this tried and tested partnership. Leonie likes working with David because he is a nice friend who is fun to be around, even when he is much cooler to the others. Sara also features a lot in his plays, and she is there because she is genuinely a good actor, and not because she is friends with someone.

As sort of a (jokingly) peace offering to Leonie and Sara for his meddling, David offered them tickets and back-stage VIP passes for the Berlin concert of the band Exorcism that is quickly gaining popularity in Germany. Leonie belatedly realises that the front of the band is none other than David’s sister, Laura, who she once exchanged a few words with that time she brought David home. They hit it off with Laura quickly that night in the back-stage, when David introduced them to Laura, and brought doom upon himself as the three of them ended up often ganging up on him.

Somewhere later along the line, when it is just the three of them, and over a couple bottles of beer, David comes out as trans to Sara, revealing that Leonie had known about that much earlier than her. She did not bat an eyelid at the fact, thanked David for telling her and pulled him into a hug. David also tells them a bit about his life story and his struggles through his teenage years. Both Leonie and Sara start to understand why David always act so distant around people.

* * *

**21 July 2021**

_Mittwoch 00:04_

Sara lies back onto the mattress, gasping for air. Leonie next to her is doing the same, coming down from the heights they have just reached. She pulls Leonie closer to her, running a hand up and down her back.

“I still can’t believe I’ve finally got what I wanted.” Leonie whispers.

“I was just too blind to open my eyes and see the precious thing that was mine all along.” Sara whispers back, tightening her arm around Leonie. They should really shower, but she is too comfortable to really move. She can tell Leonie is feeling the same.

Leonie tightens her arms around Sara as well. “We have all the time in the world to make up the lost ground.”

They fall asleep tangled together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we have reached our destination, the promised land!
> 
> This leads into [And I walk onto the big-screen with you](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19103944/chapters/45391873), which is set two years later, focusing on David! Go give it a read if you have not yet!
> 
> * * *
> 
> **Author’s Note**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> There we have it! The Leonie/Sara verse for the [Director AU](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1403554) is complete! These two idiots finally got together in the end after dancing around each other for so long!
> 
> This fic started as an idea from a throwaway line from the first chapter of _And I walk onto the big-screen with you_ that mentioned David fake dating Leonie to finally get Leonie and Sara together. I kinda ran away with it and made this fic cover the evolution of the friendship between Leonie and David as well, with the Leonie/Sara arc in the background and finally reaching boiling point after the David arc is complete.
> 
> The Sara/David friendship development is kind of implied from various points of the fic and also in the epilogue, if you squint. But this leads us to where we are in _And I walk onto the big-screen with you_ , where the three of them are tight, good friends.
> 
> [SPOILER ALERT]
> 
> The one thing you can argue about continuity between the two fics is how Matteo does not know Sara is dating Leonie. In my defence, Matteo dislikes talking about relationships in this AU, so that just never came up when the two meet.
> 
> Also there is the fact that they just meet less and less when it comes to frequency because Sara gets more and more into acting stuff, while Matteo starts to get tied up in his startup ventures, so they just slowly drifted apart until the plot arc for _And I walk onto the big-screen with you_ starts.
> 
> [/SPOILER ALERT]
> 
> I am a very new writer, this is my third fic (second finished). I hope you enjoyed this despite my inexperience with writing! This is also my first fic that looks at a wlw relationship, so I hope I did Leonie and Sara justice with the whole buildup and resolution of their arc!
> 
> Also big thank you to **my friends at the DOD** who screamed with me about writing this fic, and also especially yon who took the time to look into the draft of Chapter 6 which was gibberish because I was too stubborn to stop writing even when I was mad tired.
> 
> Thank you all for reading and commenting, I very much look forward to your feedback to this fic!
> 
>  
> 
> **JL / residentsheeper**
> 
> Catch me at davenziabend.tumblr.com


End file.
